Tariffs become structural

U.S. tariffs are now being treated as a standing cost of doing business, not a short-lived negotiating threat. (commonslibrary.parliament.uk) The House of Commons Library said on April 14, 2026 that since returning to office on January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump has imposed wide-ranging tariffs, including a 25% duty on steel and aluminum imports and a 10% tariff on most other UK goods. (commonslibrary.parliament.uk) India and the United States are set to test that new baseline in Washington from April 20 to April 22. Business Standard reported on April 19 that India’s chief negotiator, Darpan Jain, will lead about a dozen officials in talks on the first phase of a bilateral trade agreement. (business-standard.com) Those talks were delayed after the Supreme Court of the United States changed the legal footing for earlier tariff actions, and the Trump administration then imposed a 10% tariff on all countries for 150 days starting February 24, according to Business Standard and The Indian Express. (business-standard.com; indianexpress.com) That has pushed trade partners to negotiate around tariffs instead of waiting for them to disappear. The UK’s May 8, 2025 Economic Prosperity Deal with Washington was built to soften tariff damage in autos, steel, aluminum, pharmaceuticals and other sectors, while leaving a 10% tariff on most UK goods in place. (commonslibrary.parliament.uk) Thailand has moved the same way. A U.S.-ASEAN Business Council summary of an October 26, 2025 framework said Thailand agreed to negotiate the elimination of tariffs on about 99% of U.S. goods and to discuss non-tariff barriers in autos, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, ethanol and customs rules. (usasean.org) The pressure is not abstract. Thailand’s 2026 National Trade Estimate entry said the U.S. goods trade deficit with Thailand widened to $71.9 billion in 2025, up 58% from 2024, while U.S. officials kept pressing Bangkok over market distortions and barriers to American exports. (nationthailand.com) Companies are adjusting too. KPMG said in its 2026 tariff survey that 78% of organizations reported higher cost of goods sold in their latest quarter, 55% planned additional price increases of as much as 15% within six months, and 51% reported current margin declines. (kpmg.com) KPMG also found that the share of companies passing more than half of tariff costs to customers rose from 13% in May 2025 to 34% in February 2026. The firm said executives were shifting from short-term tariff defense to longer-term changes in sourcing, investment and reshoring. (kpmg.com) That leaves this week’s Washington talks with India looking less like a cleanup of an old dispute and more like a negotiation inside a tariff-first system. The question is no longer whether countries can wait out U.S. tariffs, but what concessions they will make while those tariffs stay on the books. (business-standard.com; commonslibrary.parliament.uk)