NEW YORK, August 1. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump’s decision to raise tariffs on some trading partners and reduce them on others is fueling a global trade war, the Financial Times writes.

According to the newspaper, the new tariff regime "marks a softening of the aggressive levies the president announced on ‘liberation day’ on April 2, but still leaves the US’s effective tariff rate at its highest level in decades, underscoring Trump’s drive to reshape the global economic order."

"This is a new system of trade," a senior US administration official said, as cited by the Financial Times. "We’re moving from a system where the core principle was kind of efficiency at all costs <...> to one where the core principle is fair and balanced trade," he added.

Trump stated earlier that the US was ready to reach new deals on tariffs. According to the paper, such statements "will give hope to some countries that they can swiftly end levies on their exports."

On August 1, Trump signed an executive order imposing tariffs ranging from 15% to 41% on the European Union and more than 60 other countries. The tariffs will take effect on August 7. The nations that are expected to face the highest tariffs include Iraq (35%), Serbia (35%), Switzerland (39%), Laos (40%), Myanmar (40%), and Syria (41%).