Bessent says 90-day tariff pause could be extended for key partners

Japan Today

2 days ago

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testifies before the House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Wednesday.
The United States could extend a 90-day pause on the implementation of steep tariffs on goods from its major trading partners if they continue to negotiate "in good faith," U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday.
"It is highly likely that those countries -- or trading blocs as is the case with the EU -- who are negotiating in good faith, we will roll the date forward to continue the good-faith negotiations," Bessent said during a congressional hearing. "If someone is not negotiating, then we will not."
Bessent made the remarks when asked about the upcoming end of the pause in early July, while reiterating that President Donald Trump's administration has been in talks on deals with 18 important trading partners.
Japan is one such partner that has been negotiating with the Trump administration at a fast pace, given that Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Trump are slated to hold a one-on-one meeting in less than a week when they attend a Group of Seven summit in Canada.
Japan's chief tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa is due to hold his sixth round of talks with U.S. cabinet members on Friday in a last-ditch effort to find common ground before the G7 summit. It will be Akazawa's fourth straight week visiting Washington.
Bessent's remarks marked the first time a high-ranking official of the administration has publicly hinted at its readiness to push the deadline beyond 90 days.
Later Wednesday, Trump, who unveiled his so-called reciprocal "Liberation Day" tariffs on April 2, told reporters, "I would but I don't think we're going to have that necessity," when asked about the possibility of extending the pause.
It remains uncertain if the latest remarks by Trump and Bessent, a central figure dealing with tariff issues, will change the pace of the ongoing talks with Japan and some other trading partners.
So far, the Trump administration has not reached as many agreements as it initially hoped.
During the window for negotiations, the administration has been particularly focused on clinching trade deals with Japan and other major trading partners, including India, South Korea and the European Union.
On Wednesday, Trump reaffirmed that the administration's priority remains unchanged, saying it is engaging with Japan, South Korea and other key trading partners.
He added the administration does not have time to deal with more than 150 other countries, seen as less important for the United States, so it will unilaterally send out letters in "about a week and a half to two weeks" to inform them of what their trade deals would look like. He said they could accept or ignore the letters.
The pause, which runs until July 8, only applies to country-specific tariffs under his reciprocal scheme, covering about 60 trading partners that have notable trade surpluses with the United States. It does not affect his baseline duty of 10 percent targeting imports from all parts of the world.
Japan is facing an additional country-specific tariff of 14 percent, for a total rate of 24 percent.
On top of the reciprocal tariffs, Japan, along with other countries, has been subject to new sector-specific tariffs on products such as automobiles and steel, which fall outside the scope of the pause.
Ishiba and Akazawa have repeatedly said they will not rush into a deal with the United States at the expense of Japan's national interests.
The two have urged the Trump administration to remove all of its additional tariffs on Japanese imports. But they have also suggested the need to reach some agreement with the administration as quickly as possible to prevent the measures from further impacting the Japanese economy.
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