Trump Imposes 49% Tariff on Cambodia
U.S. President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on Wednesday, hitting hard at Southeast Asian nations, most of all Cambodia, which faces the highest tariff in the region at 49 per cent.
The Trump administration announced a universal 10 per cent tariff on all foreign goods imported to the United States along with what is being described as “reciprocal tariffs”, ranging from 10 per cent all the way up to 50 per cent, on a number of countries around the world. This includes nine out of 11 Southeast Asian nations, with Cambodia (49 per cent), Laos (48 per cent) and Vietnam (46 per cent) hit the hardest.
The base 10 per cent tariffs are expected to go into effect on April 5, and the higher reciprocal rates on April 9.
The full tariff list unveiled by Trump includes a column detailing tariffs charged to the U.S. "Including Currency Manipulation and Trade Barriers”, with the list claiming Cambodia imposes a 97 per cent tariff. However, multiple experts have noted that these numbers actually reflect trade balance ratios, calculated by dividing a country’s trade surplus with total exports to the U.S. The Office of the United States Trade Representative also published a justification for how the reciprocal tariffs were calculated on its website.
In addition to the announcement of tariffs, Trump also signed an executive order on April 2, 2025, to officially end the de minimis trade exemption, which allows shipments worth less than USD 800 to enter the U.S. duty-free.
According to the General Department of Customs and Excise (GDCE), the United States is Cambodia’s largest export market, accounting for 37.9 per cent of all exports, which reached over USD 9.9 billion in 2024. More than half of Cambodia’s export products to the U.S. come from the garments, footwear and travel goods (GFT) sector, a significant pillar of the country’s economy.
Commenting on the tariff news on LinkedIn, Casey Barnett, President of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Cambodia, said:
If not aggressively addressed within the next couple weeks, this will destroy the Cambodian economy and create a deep economic recession, a loss of several hundred thousand jobs in a country with a population of only 17 million, social instability, and rapid capital outflow.
He urged the Cambodian government to make a “bold gesture” quickly by removing tariffs on imports of U.S. goods and issuing licences to U.S. businesses like Starlink.
“If not addressed, Cambodia will ultimately lose its manufacturing sector and GDP will decline by 20 per cent, reversing many years' progress,” Barnett added.
Asked for comment on how the GFT sector will respond to the 49 per cent tariff, Ken Loo, Secretary General of the Textile, Apparel, Footwear and Travel Goods Association in Cambodia (TAFTAC), said the association is “still waiting for the dust to settle” in order to fully analyse the expected impact and address the situation accordingly.
Arnaud Darc, CEO and Chairman of Thalias Hospitality Group and Co-Chair of Working Group D of the Government-Private Sector Forum, which focuses on law, tax and governance, also announced that an emergency coordination meeting has been called among private sector leaders in Cambodia to align a collective response and prepare a draft policy recommendation paper to be presented to the Cambodian government and key stakeholders.
“We must act swiftly and collaboratively to mitigate the socio-economic impact and support Cambodia’s economic stability,” said Darc.