US tariff hike will have the biggest impact on India, many Asia-Pacific countries will also suffer

Several of the economies of the Asia-Pacific will be subjected to heavy tariffs during the administration of Donald Trump. The hardest hit will be that of India. Following it will be that of South Korea and Thailand with the greatest impact of this trade retaliatory act. Rating agency S&P Global in a report named 'Asia-Pacific economies set to be impacted by US trade tariffs' released on Monday indicated that the economies of Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea, and Thailand have a larger economic exposure in the US compared to the rest of the world. This will mean that if the US imposes the tariffs, they will be the hardest hit with economic results. The Japanese and Indian economies are home-focused and the impact of US tariffs will be slightly lower with them.

The agency said some places in the Asia-Pacific region impose comparatively high tariffs on US products. Those economies will be potentially investigated for 'retaliatory tariff action'. It is difficult to monitor this, as it is not clear at what level the US will compare the tariff. S&P said, the results may vary, which will depend on the level of detail applied. These estimates of effective duty are useful indicators of the imposition of import duty.

US President Donald Trump said he will impose retaliatory tariffs on his trading partners, including India. The US administration has already imposed an additional 10 percent tariff on imports from China and a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum. S&P said this cannot be the end of it. Uncertainty is very high, as the US has shown great reluctance in imposing trade tariffs on partner economies.