US Reveals $945 Trillion Mutual Tariff Exemption Items Including Rare Minerals

Exemption Measures for Mexico and Canada Complying with the USMCA to Remain in Effect

The U.S. Donald Trump administration on the 2nd (local time) announced a list of hundreds of detailed items that are exceptionally exempted from reciprocal tariffs and other duties.

On the 3rd, the White House specified hundreds of tariff-exempt detailed items in an annex to the executive order, including energy-related products, various rare minerals, and chemicals used in the energy sector and vaccine manufacturing.

According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Erica York, Vice President of the nonprofit Tax Foundation, evaluated that the exempted items amount to a significant scale, valued at $644 billion (approximately 945 trillion won) based on last year's U.S. import volume.

President Trump announced the imposition of a 10% basic tariff (to be imposed from the 5th) applicable to all countries worldwide and reciprocal tariffs applied differentially by country (to be imposed from the 9th), while revealing some exceptional exemptions.

The White House stated that steel and aluminum, automobiles, which have already been subjected to item-specific tariffs under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, as well as semiconductors, lumber, copper, pharmaceuticals, and other items that will be subject to item-specific tariffs in the future, are excluded from this reciprocal tariff.

Energy and rare minerals that cannot be produced in the U.S. are also exempted.

Additionally, the exemption measures issued last month for Canadian and Mexican products complying with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) standards will continue to be maintained.