India, Thailand & South Korea most vulnerable to Trump tariffs: S&P

NEW DELHI: Several Asia-Pacific economies may face higher tariffs under Donald Trump's administration, with India, South Korea and Thailand being the most vulnerable, S&P Global Ratings said on Monday.The US administration has announced reciprocal tariffs on countries with higher duties."Our assessment of the plan's key criteria suggests that several Asia-Pacific economies are vulnerable to tariffs-notably South Korea, Taiwan, India, Japan, Vietnam and Thailand," said Vishrut Rana, senior economist at S&P Global Ratings.If implemented, these tariff hikes could have the greatest economic impact on Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea due to their economic exposures to the US, he added.S&P assessed the weighted average tariffs imposed by Asia-Pacific economies on US products, US tariffs on imports from these economies and the difference between the two."India and Japan have more domestically oriented economies, which will provide some mitigation from tariffs," noted S&P in the report titled 'Asia-Pacific economies likely to be hit by US trade tariffs'.The new administration has also announced additional 10% tariffs on Chinese imports and 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium.China currently holds the largest trade surplus with the US, amounting to $360 billion, according to the report. "India has a moderate trade surplus, is not on the treasury's monitoring list and has a large tariff differential," the report said.Meanwhile, Vietnam has a large trade surplus with the US, is on the treasury's currency monitoring list and has a minimal tariff gap, it added.