President Donald Trump isn’t pulling the trigger on import tariffs – yet.

Trump had threatened to implement new and increased duties on imports on his first day in office but is not doing so, though he indicated the levies remain part of his second-term plans.

Instead, the United States’ 47^th president, sworn into office on Monday, Jan. 20, is signing executive orders that include directives that federal agencies start analyzing an array of trade issues.

Trump is ordering federal authorities to study things like the trade deficit; trade deals with China, Canada and Mexico; other nations’ practices with regard to trade and currency; and the degree to which countries have complied with two trade deals the president enacted during his first term.

Tariffs also are, of course, a primary focus for Trump. His order reportedly calls for a study of tariffs the United States has implemented for national security purposes. He’s also commanding an analysis of the de minimis trade exemption, which enables lower-value products and materials to come into the United States duty-free.

Levies Likely

While Trump isn’t inking tariffs into law on his first day in office, he has indicated that he remains a big fan of import levies and that he does intend to mandate more. Just what the rates might look like, what specific countries will be affected and to what degree remains to be seen.

“I will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families,” Trump said in his Jan. 20 inauguration speech. “Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.”

Trump also reiterated plans to establish a new federal agency dedicated to collecting tariff revenue.

The “T” word – #tariffs – is abuzz again in the #promoproducts industry. https://t.co/RZy6tCLK5P

— Chris Ruvo (@ChrisR_ASI) November 20, 2024

“We are establishing the External Revenue Service to collect all tariffs, duties and revenues,” the president said. “It will be massive amounts of money pouring into our Treasury coming from foreign sources.”

Currently, U.S. Customs and Border Protection collects tariffs. While the president states that foreign companies pay the levies, they’re actually paid by U.S.-based companies bringing in products from abroad. This heightened cost can lead companies to pass at least some of the increased expense along to their customers, be they consumers or other businesses.

Such a phenomenon played out in the promotional products industry when Trump instituted tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of China-made imports during his first term. Promo suppliers said they absorbed what they could, but many passed some of the cost along to distributors, who in turn passed the cost on to end-buyers.

The vast majority of promotional products sold in the United States are produced in overseas factories, particularly in Asia, with China being the most common manufacturing source. Suppliers have told ASI Media that if Trump were to ratchet up tariffs on China imports and implement new levy mandates on additional countries, then they’d probably have to increase prices on the products they sell.

“We have largely absorbed other inflationary and noninflationary increases over the past 24 months, so upward tariff adjustments would likely force us to pass them through in our pricing,” an executive at a leading supplier who wished to remain anonymous told ASI Media in late 2024. “Obviously, we work as hard as possible to minimize price increases, but at the levels they are talking, it will be difficult for most suppliers to completely hold back.”