Trump sets Aug. 1 start for tariffs ahead of Wednesday deadline
The time line for the talks appeared to be reset after US officials signaled that trading partners will have until Aug. 1 before the tariffs kick in. That gives them the option of three more weeks for deal-making.
For weeks, the administration warned that Trump would impose levies on July 9 for countries failing to secure an accord, reverting to the levels announced on so-called Liberation Day on April 2.
The European Union said that progress has been made toward securing a deal and that the bloc is still working toward the Wednesday deadline. Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke on Sunday and had a 'good exchange,' a spokesman for the EU's executive arm said Monday in Brussels.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the weekend discussed how to resolve the US trade dispute in separate phone calls with Von der Leyen as well as counterparts from France and Italy, a government spokesman told reporters in Berlin on Monday.
'Time is running out,' Merz's chief spokesman Stefan Kornelius told a regular government news conference in Berlin, adding that Germany continues to support the Commission's strategy in the negotiations with the US. 'It's a complex matrix of factors that need to be taken into account.'
Emboldened by a legislative win and a US stock market hitting a record high last week, Trump is flexing his tariff authority as a tool to pursue domestic economic gains and taunt geopolitical rivals. His latest threat was a 10% import tax on 'any country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS.'
'There will be no exceptions to this policy,' he said in a Truth Social post, just as BRICS nations led by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa were gathering in Rio de Janeiro for meetings starting Sunday.
After two months of gains amid trade war truces, tariff tensions were back in view for equity investors. S&P 500 futures fell 0.5% after cash equity markets were closed in the US on Friday for the July 4 holiday. European stocks were flat, while a gage for Asian equities declined 0.7%.
The dollar strengthened as much as 0.5%, hitting its highest against a currency basket in more than a week. The Australian and New Zealand dollars each sank roughly 1% on the view that higher tariffs could have a serious impact on the countries, which count China as a major trade partner. Shorter-dated US Treasuries gained modestly amid weaker risk appetite.
Heading into the final days before the July 9 end of Trump's 90-day reprieve of so-called reciprocal tariffs, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said 18 major trading partners are the priority, with several big agreements expected to be announced. He also acknowledged the sheer number of ongoing discussions is complicating the final stages.
'There's a lot of congestion going into the home stretch,' the Treasury chief said on Fox News Sunday while declining to characterize Aug. 1 as the new official deadline. 'If you want to speed things up, have at it,' he said on CNN about countries that receive a letter. 'If you want to go back to the old rate, that's your choice.'
In a social media post on Sunday, Trump said he'll announce that 'the UNITED STATES TARIFF Letters, and/or Deals, with various Countries from around the World, will be delivered starting' at noon Washington time.
Officials from economies including the European Union and Japan were in discussions with Washington through the US holiday weekend.
The Trump administration has stated for weeks that multiple accords are imminent, but so far only a limited framework with the UK, a truce with China and Trump's brief outline of a pact with Vietnam have been announced. –BLOOMBERG
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Macron condemns US tariffs, urges EU countermeasures by August 1
ISTANBUL: French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed strong disapproval of the United States' decision to impose 30 per cent tariffs on European Union exports, calling for accelerated preparations for credible countermeasures. The move comes as trade tensions escalate ahead of the August 1 deadline. Macron stated on social media platform X that France and the European Commission share deep concerns over the US tariffs, which are set to take effect next month. He emphasised the need for the EU to assert its determination in protecting European interests, including the possibility of deploying anti-coercion measures if negotiations fail. The French leader also reaffirmed support for ongoing talks aimed at reaching a fair agreement before the deadline. He stressed the importance of mutual respect between trade partners, given the interconnected economies of the EU and the US. The dispute stems from former US President Donald Trump's announcement of new tariffs targeting EU and Mexican goods. In response, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged to defend EU interests, including proportionate countermeasures if necessary. - Bernama-Anadolu
New Straits Times
2 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Farm worker dies after US immigration raid in California
CAMARILLO, (United States): A farm worker has died after being injured during a raid by US immigration agents on a legal cannabis farm in California, his family said yesterday (July 12). Raids on agricultural sites Thursday resulted in the arrests of 200 undocumented migrants, as part of US President Donald Trump's wide-ranging anti-immigration crackdown, and clashes between law enforcement officials and protesters. The farm worker's family had started a page on the fundraising platform GoFundMe to help support his relatives in Mexico. On Saturday, the page posted an update to say he had "passed away." Trump campaigned for the presidency on a harsh anti-immigration platform, likening undocumented migrants to "animals" and "monsters," and since taking office he has delivered on promises to conduct a massive deportation drive. On Friday (July 11), he called demonstrators involved in attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents "slimeballs" and said they should be arrested. The chaotic raid on the cannabis plantation in Ventura County, about 56 miles (90 kilometers) from Los Angeles, saw the worker who later died being chased by ICE agents, his family said. "My uncle Jaime was just a hard-working, innocent farmer," said a post on the GoFundMe page. "He was chased by ICE agents, and we were told he fell 30ft (9 meters)." The page described his injuries as "catastrophic." Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokeswoman, said he was never in custody. "Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a green house and fell 30 feet," McLaughlin said. "(Customs and Border Patrol) immediately called a medevac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible." DHS said 200 undocumented migrants were arrested during raids on marijuana growing sites in Carpinteria and Camarillo on Thursday and 10 children were rescued "from potential exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking." Glass House Brands, which owns the farms, said in a statement that it has "never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors." DHS said more than 500 "rioters" had attempted to disrupt the operation and four US citizens are facing charges for assaulting or resisting officers. Tear gas was used against the protesters, some of whom were seen in television footage throwing projectiles at law enforcement vehicles. The department said immigration agency vehicles were damaged and a $50,000 reward was being offered for the arrest of an individual who allegedly fired a gun at law enforcement officers. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he had watched footage of "thugs" throwing rocks and bricks at ICE vehicles, causing "tremendous damage." Trump said he was authorizing law enforcement officers who are "on the receiving end of thrown rocks, bricks, or any other form of assault, to stop their car, and arrest these SLIMEBALLS, using whatever means is necessary to do so." "I am giving Total Authorisation for ICE to protect itself, just like they protect the Public," he said. Trump has been involved in a showdown over immigration enforcement with Democratic-ruled California for weeks. The Republican president sent thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles last month to quell protests against round-ups of undocumented migrants by federal agents. California Governor Gavin Newsom has said the troops were not necessary to address the mostly peaceful protests, but his legal efforts to have them removed have failed so far. The cannabis farm in Camarillo was calm during a visit by an AFP reporter on Friday, as workers waited in line to collect their belongings and paychecks. "We've been here since six this morning asking questions but they're not giving us any information," said Saul Munoz, a 43-year-old Colombian whose son was detained on Thursday. "I just want to know how he's doing," Munoz said. "Bring him back to me and if it's time for us to leave, we'll leave. "The truth is the American dream is no longer really the American dream." — AFP
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Why they are flattening Gaza
IN Washington, Pakistan and Israel's Nobel Peace Prize nominee, joined by Israel's MIT-educated prime minister, were recently toasting their shared success. While some differences exist, the duo considers its achievement epoch-making: the Arabs have been reduced to a defeated and demoralised lot, humbly offering as tithe a three trillion-dollar investment in America – with a personal jetliner as the topping. While Israel dropped bombs from the sky over Arab lands, regular flights of Gulf carriers to and from Tel Aviv continued undisturbed. But the victories go further: Iran was once the outlier, the last to challenge United States-Israeli domination of the entire Middle East. After 12 days of war its defiance is now merely token. Months earlier its allies in Lebanon and Yemen had been decimated. Mass starvation in Gaza – now just piles of rubble – has eviscerated Hamas. Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers with automatic weapons enjoy daily target practice with live ammunition on Palestinian children as they chase food trucks. Pronouncing moral judgement on these two men may offer relief to some but to what end? Let's recall that even the International Criminal Court was openly derided in Washington as a 'kangaroo court' when it ordered Netanyahu's arrest. Blaming individual leaders alone misses the point. No matter how powerful, they invariably reflect what their base wants. Consider that in 2024, as Netanyahu addressed the United States Congress amidst his hospital bombing campaign, American lawmakers – mostly Republicans but also many Democrats – repeatedly gave him standing ovations. We surely need to dig deeper lest we miss the systemic forces shaping the mindset of both leaders as well as Western publics. To see why Israel wants to eliminate as many Palestinians as possible is easy. Over its entire history it has deliberately cultivated a Holocaust-driven us-or-them mentality. While Hamas' October 7 attack on Israeli civilians was morally abhorrent, Israel has systematically sought to blame all violence on the people it has conquered. But what about America? What beef does America have with Palestinians living half a world away? The ruins of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. — AFP In the past, American presidents pursued their political objectives in the Middle East through 'gentler' covert means like CIA-led coups and targeted assassinations but never through overt genocide captured on camera. The shift, I will argue below, owes to the rapid rise of Social Darwinism and evangelists of the Bible Belt. Social Darwinism became a popular belief in 19th-century America soon after Darwin discovered the laws of biological selection. Darwin – a true scientist – forcefully rejected this 'Darwinism' as extreme misapplication and distortion of his work. Nevertheless, the capitalist robber barons of his time found this piece of science very useful. British philosopher Herbert Spencer first coined the phrase 'survival of the fittest' and advocated that this is the way things ought to be, not just how nature functioned. Society advances, he wrote, when 'its fittest members are allowed to assert their fitness with the least hindrance.' The unfit should 'not be prevented from dying out'. America's cowboy culture readily absorbed Spencer and, in time, Donald Trump inherited this mindset from his father, a property dealer. His political career, culminating in his presidency, was launched by his popular book, Think Big and Kick A**: In Business and in Life . This crude title bespeaks its crude content: being self-serving and brazen brings success, and ultimately, success is all that matters, regardless of how it's achieved. Elon Musk – the richest man in the world and Trump's ex-sidekick – couldn't agree more. 'The fundamental weakness of Western civilisation is empathy', he declared, adding that 'woke' liberals have weaponised empathy and are 'exploiting a bug in Western civilisation.' Musk trashes social insurance such as Social Security, which he calls a 'Ponzi scheme.' His newly launched political party will be still kinder to America's ultra-rich and yet harsher on ordinary people. As for starving Palestinians: the fewer the better. What do they produce, he asked rhetorically. While heartlessness might explain why the US has stopped trying to feed the world's hungry, it fails to explain why America helped Israel flatten Gaza. For that, we must glance at Trump's political base. In 2024, Trump won over roughly 80% of white conservative, evangelical Christian voters. (Incidentally, most conservative Pakistani-Americans also voted for Trump.) During my professional visits to the US over the decades, I've often found myself watching white televangelists hawk their beliefs and marvelled at their well-honed delivery skills. Their core message: the Bible commands you to give your absolute support for Israel. Then, without batting an eyelid, they equate the Promised Land of Moses's time with today's nation-state of Israel. One such preacher – later disgraced because of his weakness for women – I watched particularly. Jimmy Swaggart, who died last week, was a Christian Zionist who made his living off the Bible. 'Israel is God's prophetic time clock,' that heralds Armageddon and Jesus's return to Earth, he sermonised. His son, Donnie Swaggart, carries on his mission today: 'We must stand for Israel, for Jerusalem is the chosen city of God, where Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, will one day reign forever.' That Trump ordered the US embassy to be shifted from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in his first presidency was surely not accidental. No logical exercise can ever disprove what the Swaggarts and their ilk preach. Reason can never defeat faith, particularly when it stands behind a holy book. But what about Social Darwinism? Is that unassailable too? Here one can be more hopeful. Its nonsensical pseudo-scientific claims – virtuous people beget virtuous children being one – are readily disproven. But more importantly, as Darwin himself insisted, cooperation within the human species is fundamental for societal well-being. Cooperation, in turn, demands empathy. Without empathy we'd be living in a dystopic Muskian jungle populated by selfish individuals pursuing selfish needs. To prevent more Gazas, people in every country must boldly confront their ingrained beliefs, repudiate pure selfishness, and internalise the profound truth that humanity is one. Else the scum shall continue rising to the top, eventually becoming that country's political leaders. — Dawn/ANN Pervez Hoodbhoy is an Islamabad-based physicist and writer.
