President Donald Trump’s steeper global tariffs came into effect Thursday, leaving dozens of US partners scrambling to secure relief from soaring levies that are rewriting global trade practice.Shortly before the new rates kicked in, Washington also announced it would double India tariffs to 50 percent and hit many semiconductor imports with a 100-percent duty.Trump’s trade policy is a demonstration of economic power that he hopes will revive domestic manufacturing, but many economists fear it could fuel inflation and lower growth.In his latest move, the president raised import duties from 10 percent to levels between 15 percent and 41 percent for various trading partners.Many products from the European Union, Japan and South Korea now face a 15-percent tariff, even with deals struck with Washington to avert steeper threatened levies.But questions remain surrounding the implementation of these agreements.Others like India face a 25-percent duty — to be doubled in three weeks — while Syria, Myanmar and Laos face levels of 40 or 41 percent.Switzerland’s government, which failed to convince Trump not to impose a 39-percent tariff, said after an extraordinary meeting Thursday that it remains committed to talks aimed at lowering levies.Trump’s latest wave of “reciprocal” duties — a response to trade practices Washington deems unfair — broadens measures imposed since he returned to the presidency.Wall Street’s major indexes mostly dipped, while global markets largely shrugged off the higher tariffs Thursday.- ‘No charge’ -The steeper duties maintain exemptions on sectors that Trump separately targeted, like steel and autos.Categories that could be hit later, like pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, are also spared for now.Trump said Wednesday that he plans an “approximately 100-percent tariff” on semiconductor imports, but with no charge for companies investing in his country or committed to doing so.Companies and industry groups warn Trump’s new levies will severely hurt smaller American businesses.But providing some reprieve from the “reciprocal” tariff hike is a clause saying that goods already en route to the United States before Thursday — and arriving before October 5 — will not face the new rates.With the dust settling, at least temporarily, Georgetown University professor Marc Busch expects US businesses to “pass along more of the tariff bill” to consumers.Inventories are depleting and it is unlikely firms will absorb costs indefinitely, he told AFP.Trump is using tariffs to pursue a variety of goals — such as doubling planned duties on India due to its purchase of Russian oil, a key revenue source in Moscow’s war in Ukraine.The order threatened penalties on countries that “directly or indirectly” import Russian oil too.The Federation of Indian Export Organisations called the move a “severe setback” impacting nearly 55 percent of shipments to the United States.- Discrepancies -Lingering questions remain for partners who have negotiated deals with Trump.Tokyo and Washington appear at odds over the terms of their pact, such as when levies on Japanese cars will be lowered from an existing 25 percent on US auto imports.Both countries also seem to differ on whether the new 15-percent toll on Japanese goods would be added to existing levies or — like the EU — be capped at that level for many products.Japan’s tariffs envoy Ryosei Akazawa told reporters Thursday that Washington is expected to revise its order such that the new toll does not stack uniformly on existing ones. It would also lower vehicle tariffs on Japanese autos.Washington and Beijing meanwhile have a temporary truce in their tariff standoff expiring August 12. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox Business it is likely this will be extended another 90 days.Trump has separately targeted Brazil over the trial of his right-wing ally, former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of planning a coup.US tariffs on various Brazilian goods surged to 50 percent Wednesday with broad exemptions.Lutnick expects Trump’s duties could bring in $50 billion in monthly revenue.burs-bys/mlm

Lebanon’s cabinet met on Thursday for the second time in days to discuss disarming Hezbollah, after the Iran-backed group rejected the government’s decision to take away its weapons.The meeting considered a US proposal that includes a timetable for Hezbollah’s disarmament, with Washington pressing Beirut to take action.Information Minister Paul Morcos said the cabinet endorsed the introduction of the US text without discussing specific timelines. The government said on Tuesday that disarmament should happen by the end of this year.The introduction endorsed in Thursday’s meeting lists 11 “objectives” including “ensuring the sustainability” of a November ceasefire with Israel, and “the gradual end of the armed presence of all non-governmental entities, including Hezbollah, in all Lebanese territory”.It also calls for the the deployment of Lebanese troops in border areas and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the five places in the south they have occupied since last year’s war with Hezbollah.The November ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah stipulated that weapons in Lebanon be restricted to six military and security agencies.Following the cabinet decision on Tuesday, Morcos said the Lebanese government was waiting to review an “executive plan” on Hezbollah’s disarmament.The army was tasked with presenting a plan to restrict the possession of weapons to government forces by the end of August.Only then would the government review the full provisions of the US proposal, whose implementation “is dependent on the approval of each of the concerned countries”, the information minister said.- US support -Four Shiite Muslim ministers, including three directly affiliated with Hezbollah or its ally the Amal movement, walked out of Thursday’s meeting in protest at the government’s disarmament push, Hezbollah’s Al Manar television reported.They also refused to discuss the proposal submitted by US envoy Tom Barrack, the report said.Environment Minister Tamara Elzein, who is close to Amal, told Al Manar that the government “first hoped to consolidate the ceasefire and the Israeli withdrawal, before we could complete the remaining points” in Barrack’s proposal such as taking away Hezbollah’s weapons.In a post on X, Barrack hailed Lebanon’s “historic, bold, and correct decision this week to begin fully implementing” the November ceasefire.France’s foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot in a message on X hailed Lebanon’s disarmament initiative as “a brave and historic decision” that would enable the country to rebuild and “protect all its communities”.Under Lebanon’s sect-based power-sharing system, the absence of the Shiite ministers from this week’s cabinet meetings could support the claim that the decisions taken lacked consensual legitimacy, however.Before last year’s war with Israel, Hezbollah had wielded sufficient political power to impose its will or disrupt government business.But the Shiite group has emerged from the war weakened, reducing its political influence.- ‘Correct the situation’ -Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc called on the government on Thursday to “correct the situation it has put itself and Lebanon in by slipping into accepting American demands that inevitably serve the interests of the Zionist enemy”.The group said on Wednesday that it would treat the government’s decision to disarm it “as if it did not exist”, accusing the cabinet of committing a “grave sin”.Late Thursday, hundreds of Hezbollah supporters took to the streets of Beirut’s southern suburbs to protest the government decision, AFP photographers reported.Lebanese media shared footage of similar rallies in other areas of the country where Hezbollah holds sway, while troops deployed to maintain order.Israel — which routinely carries out air strikes in Lebanon despite the November ceasefire — has already signalled it could launch military operations if Beirut failed to disarm the group.The Lebanese health ministry said Israel carried out several strikes on eastern Lebanon on Thursday, killing at least seven people.Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, said on Thursday that troops had “discovered a vast network of fortified tunnels” in the south.UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters that peacekeepers and Lebanese troops found “three bunkers, artillery, rocket launchers, hundreds of explosive shells and rockets, anti-tank mines and about 250 ready-to-use improvised explosive devices”.Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said in June that the Lebanese army had dismantled more than 500 Hezbollah military positions and weapons depots in the south.