US President Donald Trump speaks during a multilateral lunch with visiting African Leaders in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 9, 2025.

The trade war chaos that engulfed the early months of President Donald Trump’s second term looked set to return Monday as he threatened two major U.S. trading partners with higher duties ahead of a key negotiating deadline.

President Donald Trump is spamming world leaders with letters threatening massive tariff hikes if they don’t strike trade deals with Washington as the U.S. blows past its own 90-day deadline for deals with 90 countries. As the letters multiply, it turns out they are partially copied and pasted.

President Trump this week has been firing off letters to global leaders that threaten new, high tariff rates and also announcing them via social media. Here's what has happened so far.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “there will be approximately 12 other countries that will receive notifications and letters directly from the president” after missives went out to Japan and South Korea earlier today.

Trumps new tariff letters have sent shockwaves across global markets as he targets 22 countries with tough new trade threats just weeks before the August 1 deadline. From close allies like Japan and South Korea to BRICS nations like Brazil and South Africa,

The new tariff rates threatened in the letters Trump shared Wednesday are similar to those he announced on what the White House dubbed “Liberation Day” in early April.

The White House sent tariff letters to 14 countries. U.S. markets fall on new stiff tariffs. Tesla loses more than $68 billion in value. Samsung Electronics forecasts a 56% plunge in profits. Analysts are encouraging investors in China to be more conservative.