The Trump administration is stepping up pressure on trading partners to quickly make new deals before a Wednesday deadline, when the president’s 90-day so-called “reciprocal” tariff deadline is set to expire.
The United States plans to start sending letters on Monday warning countries that higher tariffs could kick in on 1 August.
That furthers the uncertainty for businesses, consumers and America's trading partners, and questions remain about which countries will be notified, whether anything will change in the days ahead and whether President Donald Trump will once more push off imposing the rates. Trump and his top trade advisers say he could extend the time for dealmaking but they insist the administration is applying maximum pressure on other nations.
Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that Trump would decide when it was time to give up on negotiations.
“The United States is always willing to talk to everybody about everything,” Hassett said. “There are deadlines, and there are things that are close, so maybe things will push back past the deadline or maybe they won’t. In the end the president is going to make that judgment.”
Stephen Miran, the chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, likewise said countries negotiating in good faith and making concessions could “sort of, get the date rolled”.
The tariffs on the table
The steeper tariffs that Trump announced on 2 April threatened to overhaul the global economy and lead to broader trade wars. A week later, after the financial markets had panicked, the US administration suspended most of the higher taxes on imports for 90 days just as they were about to take effect. The negotiating window until 9 July has led to announced deals only with the United Kingdom and Vietnam.
Trump imposed elevated tariff rates on dozens of nations that run meaningful trade surpluses with the US, and a 10% baseline tax on imports from all countries in response to what he called an economic emergency. Many economists nonetheless fear that Trump’s tariffs have the potential to raise inflation, stalling interest rate cuts and therefore hindering growth. There are separate 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum and a 25% tariff on autos.
Since April, few foreign governments have set new trade terms with Washington as the Republican president demanded.
Trump told reporters on Friday that his administration might be sending out letters as early as Saturday to countries spelling out their tariff rates if they did not reach a deal, but noted that the US would not start collecting those taxes until 1 August. On Sunday, he said he would send out letters from Monday to foreign governments, reflecting planned tariffs for each. “Could be 12, could be 15,” he added.
“We've made deals also,” Trump told reporters before heading back to the White House from his home in New Jersey. “So we'll get to have a combination of letters, and some deals have been made.”
He and his advisers have declined to say which countries would receive the letters.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rejected the idea that 1 August was a new deadline and declined to say what might happen on Wednesday.
“We’ll see," Bessent said on CNN's State of the Union. "I’m not going to give away the playbook.”
He said the US was “close to several deals”, and predicted several big announcements over the next few days. He gave no details.
"I think we’re going to see a lot of deals very quickly,” Bessent said.
Targeting BRICS nations
Later Sunday, Trump vowed to impose more tariffs against the BRICS bloc of developing nations, which had condemned tariffs increases at its summit in Brazil. Trump said in a post on his social media platform that any country aligning itself with what he termed “the Anti-American policies of BRICS” would be levied an added 10% tariff.
Trump has announced a deal with Vietnam that would allow US goods to enter the country duty-free, while Vietnamese exports to the US would face a 20% levy.
That was a decline from the 46% tax on Vietnamese imports he proposed in April — one of his so-called reciprocal tariffs targeting dozens of countries with which the US runs a trade deficit.
There are a number of factors behind the trade deficits the US is running but the strength of the dollar, which makes imports cheaper for Americans, is notably driving up demand for cheap, foreign goods.
Asked if he expected to reach deals with the European Union or India, Trump said on Friday that “letters are better for us” because there are so many countries involved.
“We have India coming up and with Vietnam, we did it, but much easier to send a letter saying, ’Listen, we know we have a certain deficit, or in some cases a surplus, but not too many. And this is what you’re going to have to pay if you want to do business in the United States.”
Canada, however, will not be one of the countries receiving letters, Trump's ambassador, Pete Hoekstra, said on Friday after trade talks between the two countries recently resumed.
“Canada is one of our biggest trading partners,” Hoekstra told CTV News in an interview in Ottawa. “We’re going to have a deal that’s articulated."
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said he wants a new deal in place by 21 July or Canada will increase trade countermeasures.
Hoekstra would not commit to a date for a trade agreement and said that even with a deal, Canada could still face some tariffs. But “we’re not going to send Canada just a letter,” he said.
