President Donald Trump shakes hands with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after announcing a trade agreement between the United States and the EU on July 27, 2025, in Turnberry, Scotland. Yonhap News/Reuters 

President Donald Trump has raised U.S. tariffs on foreign goods to about 17.3 percent since taking office, the highest level in the United States since World War II, according to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

This figure includes a recent agreement with the European Union over the weekend, and is just below 20 percent, seen during a period of tariff hikes in the years following the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, the Financial Times (FT) reported Tuesday.

"Trump has created a new era of American protectionism that will affect the entire global trading system," Eswar Prasad, a professor of trade policy and economics at Cornell University, told the Financial Times.

Alan Wolff, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, added that tariffs could lead to "changing trade patterns" as some companies move their supply chains.

"The United States, which was the best market in the world in Trump's view, is now not as good as it used to be," Wolff said. "Companies may also find other sales outlets where access to goods is not compromised."

President Trump has also concluded or proposed agreements with other countries to impose reciprocal tariffs on 60 percent of U.S. imports. However, imports from Canada and Mexico are excluded. These countries have separate tariff rules as President Trump pushes for border security and the crackdown on fentanyl smuggling.

President Trump's agreement with the EU is the largest in a series of deals, but still falls short of the goal of reaching 90 agreements during a 90-day mutual pause that began in April.

While markets are reacting favorably to these deals, many countries have expressed concerns that tariffs have become much higher than they were when Trump took office in January.

Meanwhile, the effective U.S. tariff rate of 17.3 percent could rise if President Trump carries out his threat to impose reciprocal tariffs on countries that do not reach an agreement by this Friday, Newsmax reported.

Questions have also been raised about some of the agreements announced by President Trump. So far, the only joint written statements for these agreements are for Britain and Indonesia.

According to the New York Times, the United States and Japan have also offered different interpretations of the deal, and in the case of Vietnam, authorities have not confirmed whether they agree to impose a 20 percent tariff rate on all products imported from Vietnam and a 40 percent tariff on "transshipments" of goods or containers to intermediate destinations, the newspaper said.

However, investors have welcomed the conclusion of tariff agreements by the United States, saying that trade wars appear to be avoidable.

Recently, U.S., European and Japanese stocks have hit record highs following their April lows.

By Sung Ku Hong, Chief Reporter, Newsmax Korea info@newsandpost.com