Commerce Secretary Says US Still Eyeing 10 Percent Baseline Tariff

This would be the baseline level seen by many smaller countries that do not have significant trade imbalances or barriers with the United States.

Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick speaks at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh on July 15, 2025. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on July 20 that the United States is still aiming to leave a 10 percent baseline tariff on many smaller countries, despite recent comments from President Donald Trump that suggested that the tariff level could be higher.

Lutnick told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on July 20 that the Trump administration was not looking to increase the 10 percent baseline tariff level it imposed on many smaller nations in early April, when other larger U.S. trading partners saw reciprocal tariffs as high as 50 percent.