Trump’s 25% Tariff Threat Targets Countries Doing Business With Iran

WASHINGTON: As Washington considers a reaction to the situation in Iran, which is witnessing its worst anti-government protests in years, President Donald Trump announced on Monday that any nation doing business with Iran would be subject to a 25% penalty on commerce with the US.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump declared, “Any country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America.”

US importers of goods from certain nations pay tariffs. Washington has imposed severe sanctions on Iran for many years.

Trump declared, “This order is final and conclusive,” although he did not elaborate.

On its website, the White House did not provide any official documents regarding the strategy, nor did it specify whether the tariffs would be imposed on all of Iran’s trading partners or what legal authority Trump would use to do so. A request for comment was not answered by the White House.

The largest anti-government protests in years are taking place in Iran, which fought a 12-day war with US ally Israel last year and whose nuclear facilities the US military destroyed in June.

Trump has increased pressure on Iran’s authorities by threatening military action and claiming that the US may meet with Iranian officials. He also claimed to have communicated with Iran’s opposition.

Tehran stated on Monday that it was maintaining open lines of communication with Washington as Trump thought about how to handle the Iranian crisis, which has presented one of the most serious challenges to Iranian clerical rule since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Complaints about severe economic troubles gave way to defiant calls for the overthrow of the firmly established religious system during demonstrations. Since the protests started on December 28, 599 people—510 protestors and 89 security personnel—have died, according to the US-based rights organization HRANA.

“Diplomacy is always the first option for the president,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated on Monday, despite the fact that airstrikes were just one of Trump’s many options.

Trump has frequently threatened and imposed tariffs on foreign nations during his second term in office because of their connections to US foes and because he believes that their trade practices are unfair to Washington.

The US Supreme Court is considering overturning a large portion of Trump’s current tariffs, putting his trade policies under legal strain.

According to the latest recent data from the World Bank, Iran, a member of the OPEC group of oil producers, exported goods to 147 trading partners in 2022.