Bessent says US may 'roll the date forward' for some after 90-day tariff pause ends
June 11 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday said the Trump administration is prepared to "roll the date forward" with trading partners negotiating in good faith if the deadline marking the end of the 90-day pause on President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs is reached with no deal.
"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 told the House Ways and Means Committee. "If someone is not negotiating, then we will not."
Bessent's remarks, in response to a question from a Democratic lawmaker, marked the first time a Trump administration official has indicated some flexibility around the expiration date for the pause. That date - July 8 - is now just four weeks away, and so far the White House has struck only one preliminary deal with a major foreign trading partner affected by the pause, Britain.
A deal struck on Tuesday in London with China to de-escalate that bilateral trade war is proceeding on a separate track and timeline.
The White House did not immediately respond to a question about whether Trump shared Bessent's view.
Trump announced the pause on April 9, a week after unveiling "Liberation Day" tariffs against nearly all U.S. trading partners that proved to be so unexpectedly large and sweeping that it sent global financial markets into near panic.
The S&P 500 Index (.SPX), opens new tab plunged more than 12% in four days for its heftiest run of losses since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. Investors were so rattled they bailed out of safe-haven U.S. Treasury securities, sending bond yields rocketing higher. The dollar sank.
Markets started their recovery on April 9 when Trump unexpectedly announced the pause. A further leg up in the recovery followed in early May when the Trump team reached a preliminary deal to dial back the triple-digit tariff rates it had imposed on goods from China. The events have given rise to what some on Wall Street have parodied as the "TACO" trade - an acronym for Trump Always Chickens Out.
"The only time the market has reacted positively is when the administration is in retreat from key policy areas," Democratic Representative Don Beyer of Virginia told Bessent before pressing him on what should be expected at the end of the next deadline next month.
"As I have said repeatedly there are 18 important trading partners. We are working toward deals with those," Bessent said before going on to signal a willingness to offer extensions to those negotiating in good faith.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
21 minutes ago
- BBC News
Sen Alex Padilla dragged out of Noem immigration briefing in LA
Democratic US Senator Alex Padilla has been forcibly removed from a news conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los was offering the latest figures on immigration enforcement in the area, which has led to nearly a week of protests in the city, to members of the news media when Sen Padilla interrupted and started shouting a removed from the room, the California senator was removal caused condemnation on both sides of the aisle, with fellow senators calling the arrest shocking and a "sickening disgrace" and the Trump administration dubbing it "disrespectful political theatre". "I'm Senator Alex Padilla," he said as he was confronted by authorities. "I have questions for the secretary!" Noem, who was speaking about immigration and the protests in LA, continued addressing reporters and law enforcement officers while the senator was ejected from the office said he was "forced to the ground and handcuffed" by federal agents when trying to ask the secretary a question, and added that he was not currently being detained. The Department of Homeland Security said Padilla had engaged in "disrespectful political theatre" and that Noem met with the senator after the news Mayor Karen Bass called the incident "absolutely abhorrent and outrageous", adding that the Trump administration's "violent attacks on our city must end". Padilla told reporters that he was already in the federal building for a previously scheduled meeting. He said he stopped by Noem's news briefing because he and his colleagues have received "little to no information in response" to several immigration-related the son of Mexican immigrants, is the most senior Democrat on the Senate's Border Security and Immigration subcommittee."I came to the press conference to hear what she had to say, to see if I could learn any new additional information," he said. "If this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they're doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day labourers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country."He urged Americans across the country to "continue peacefully protesting" the Trump administration and its DHS in a statement said Padilla didn't identify himself and was not wearing the Senator's pin on his clothing so officers thought he was an attacker. Video footage of the incident shows Padilla saying he was he was a senator as he was being pushed outside the room. California's Governor Gavin Newsom called on Republican congressional leadership to condemn the detaining of Padilla. "If they can handcuff a U.S. Senator for asking a question, imagine what they will do to you," Newsom wrote on social the White House accused the California senator of storming the press conference, and said he "yelled and lunged toward Secretary Noem". "Padilla didn't want answers; he wanted attention," Abigail Jackson, White House spokesperson said. "Padilla embarrassed himself and his constituents with this immature, theater-kid stunt – but it's telling that Democrats are more riled up about Padilla than they are about the violent riots and assaults on law enforcement in LA."Former vice-president and Trump opponent, Kamala Harris also criticised the move and said the California senator was trying to get answers for his constituents about the ongoing immigration raids in the state. "United States Senator Alex Padilla was representing the millions of Californians who are demanding answers to this Administration's actions in Southern California," she said on Twitter. "This is a shameful and stunning abuse of power."
Reuters
30 minutes ago
- Reuters
US tells Israel it won't take part in any Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, Axios reports
WASHINGTON, June 12 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration told the Israeli government the U.S. will not be directly involved in any Israeli military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, Axios reported on Thursday, citing two U.S. sources and an Israeli source familiar with those discussions.
The Guardian
32 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Michael Johnson cancels Los Angeles Grand Slam Track meeting
Michael Johnson cancelled the final leg of the new Grand Slam Track series in Los Angeles before an emergency meeting with athletes on Thursday night, leaving the host of the 2028 Olympics and the country's second-largest city without a major track meeting this summer. Johnson raised around $30m to launch Grand Slam Track this spring, promising a new way of doing track – involving a group of runners under contract racing twice over a weekend and focusing more on where they finished than actual times. Among the top athletes he signed were Olympic champions Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Gabby Thomas, though two other American track stars, Sha'Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles, did not race in the league. The first three events, in Kingston, Jamaica, Miami and Philadelphia, raised about $9.45m, with another $3m expected to be paid in LA. Bonuses were expected to go to season-long winners of the categories. The news on Thursday about the abrupt scrubbing of the meeting, scheduled for the last weekend in June at Drake Stadium, follows USA Track and Field's decision to take an event set for earlier in June – the LA Grand Prix – off the calendar. Max Siegel, USATF chief executive, told the Associated Press that the federation pulled its event because it was not viable to hold two major track meets in LA in the span of three weeks. A person with knowledge of the Grand Slam Track decision told the AP it was because of economic problems with the venue. The person added the new track league is looking towards 2026 and is expected to announce new investors next week. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been publicly announced. A meeting with the athletes was slated to take place later on Thursday. Siegel said leaders at USATF 'understand the significance of the [LA] market' and that there are plans for leaders to meet later this summer to coordinate the future of track there and throughout the United States, starting in 2026. 'It highlights the complicated way the [sport] works, and how difficult it is to financially sustain track meets,' Siegel said. 'The only way to do it in a sustainable way is collaboration and partnerships.' In the short term, USATF is looking to find meetings for a handful of athletes who still need to reach standards or collect points to qualify for world championships later this year and were planning to compete in Los Angeles. The news was far from what Olympic and track leaders were hoping as they head towards the first Summer Games in the United States since 1996 in a city that, 12 years before that, put Carl Lewis, Edwin Moses, Evelyn Ashford and others in the spotlight.
