Cambodia is included in the list of countries where tariffs are temporarily suspended

Trump said in a post on the social media platform Truth Social that more than 75 countries have contacted the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Treasury Department and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to negotiate on issues such as trade, trade barriers, tariffs, exchange rate manipulation and non-tariff barriers, and have not taken any retaliatory action against the United States. Therefore, he has authorized the suspension of the measure for 90 days, during which only a 10% reciprocal tariff will be implemented, which will also take effect immediately.

On April 2, Trump announced the launch of the so-called “reciprocal tariff” mechanism, imposing tariffs of up to 49% on imports from Cambodia, which has aroused great concern from the Cambodian side.

Kathy Barnett, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia, issued a statement on April 3, calling on the Cambodian government to actively respond to avoid the United States from imposing high tariffs on Cambodia, and warned that if the measures are implemented, it will seriously impact the economy, causing large-scale unemployment and foreign capital withdrawal.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet sent a letter to U.S. President Trump on April 4, formally requesting negotiations and calling for the postponement of relevant measures. Cambodia also announced that it would reduce import tariffs on 19 categories of US products from the original maximum of 35% to 5% to show goodwill.

In 2024, the total bilateral trade between Cambodia and the United States reached US$13 billion, and the US trade deficit with Cambodia reached US$12.3 billion.

Analysis pointed out that Cambodia’s inclusion in the list of suspended tariffs will help ease short-term pressure, but the future direction is still uncertain, and it is necessary to continue to pay close attention to US policy trends.