Trump eyes simple tariff rates over complex talks, says letters going out Friday
Acknowledging the complexity of negotiating with over 170 nations, Trump told reporters before departing for Iowa on Thursday that the letters will be sent to 10 countries at a time, laying out tariff rates such as 20 per cent to 30 per cent.
"We have more than 170 countries, and how many deals can you make?" Trump said. "They're very much more complicated."
The Republican president said he expected "a couple" more detailed agreements with other countries after Wednesday's announcement of a trade deal with Vietnam.
However, he said he preferred to notify most other countries of a specific tariff rate, skipping detailed negotiations.
Trump's comments underscored the challenges of completing trade agreements on everything from tariffs to non-tariff barriers such as bans on agricultural imports.
Top Trump aides said in April they would work on 90 deals in 90 days, an ambitious goal that was met with skepticism from trade experts familiar with arduous and time-consuming trade deals of the past.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Bloomberg Television that about 100 countries are likely to see a reciprocal tariff rate of 10 per cent and predicted a "flurry" of trade deals announced before a July 9 deadline when tariffs could rise sharply.
If 10 per cent tariffs were given to 100 countries, that would be fewer than originally envisioned by the Trump administration.
Its original reciprocal tariff list showed 123 jurisdictions that would be given a 10 per cent tariff rate - mostly small countries, along with some territories such as Australia's uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands.
Trump sent markets into a tailspin on April 2 with sweeping reciprocal tariff rates ranging from 10 per cent to 50 per cent, although he temporarily reduced the tariff rate for most countries to 10 per cent to allow time for negotiations through July 9.
Many countries with an initial 10 per cent duty rate have not had any negotiations with the Trump administration, with the exception of Britain, which reached a deal in May to keep a 10 per cent rate and won preferential treatment for some sectors including autos and aircraft engines.
Major trading partners now involved in negotiations were hit with much higher tariff rates, including 20 per cent for the European Union, 26 per cent for India and 24 per cent for Japan. Other countries that have not engaged in trade talks with the Trump administration face even higher reciprocal tariffs, including 50 per cent for the tiny mountain kingdom of Lesotho, 47 per cent for Madagascar and 36 per cent for Thailand.
Trump on Wednesday announced an agreement with Vietnam that he said cuts U.S. tariffs on many Vietnamese goods to 20 per cent from his previously threatened 46 per cent. Many U.S. products would be allowed to enter Vietnam duty free.
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Curious to learn more, I spoke with her to find out how a Singaporean who once followed the traditional academic track ended up forging such a unique path. While clocking full-time hours at GIC, she opened one of the first boutique spin studios in Singapore. After GIC, she pivoted to the world of mixed martial arts before moving to the US and diving headfirst into the uncharted waters of Web3, a blockchain-based internet that uses decentralised technology to operate. While cooped up in Los Angeles during the pandemic, a chance online meeting with Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg's older sister Randi led to the duo launching HUG, a social marketplace for artists to showcase and sell their digital and physical work. Today, she is the marketing head at Privy, a cryptocurrency wallet provider and startup recently acquired by payment technology firm Stripe. Speaking to me over a video call from her home in New York City on Jul 2, where she's now in the midst of relocating, Ms Soon immediately struck me as a spirited and determined go-getter who doesn't let ideas remain mere ideas. Asked how she would describe herself, she said she was 'definitely ambitious' and 'kind of unconventional'. 'I think I always look to do things a little bit differently from other people. And deep down, I'm pretty optimistic. Even if, in the moment, I feel like things are really bad, at the back of my mind, I (still) believe in a better future and a better outcome.' A combination of these traits and her appetite for risk – which she tells me is 'more calculated than people think' – has shaped every chapter of her life. GROWING UP IN THE LITTLE RED DOT The younger of two children and the daughter of a civil servant and lecturer, Ms Soon spent most of her childhood living in Clementi. 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So even though my favourite subjects in school were history and literature, I think I ended up picking the most practical thing to study, which was economics, and then, became a GIC scholar.' While at GIC, Ms Soon worked as a portfolio manager on the global equities team covering consumer brands including luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, fast-food chain McDonald's, sporting goods company Nike, as well as e-commerce giant Amazon. Her interest in entrepreneurship, she said, came from her work at GIC after spending time speaking to the higher management of various companies. Her role involved gathering as much information as possible from stakeholders in order to assess how their businesses were performing. 'And while I think I was decent at stock picking and pretty good at making calls, there was definitely a part of me that felt a bit like a fraud. 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'Growing up in this small, (often) overlooked country, the little red dot ... it's always been the underdog. 'And I feel very motivated to put Singapore on the world map ... I think (that) could mean different things to different people. To me, I definitely feel like I'm working in an industry where there is the opportunity to really shape things. 'I don't know what the end state looks like, but I think at the end of the day, I want to be working on meaningful things.' Ms Soon also loves hearing people 'say nice things about Singapore' while she is in the US. Admittedly, she once felt slightly self-conscious about being a Singaporean, but she now begins every self-introduction by proudly stating that she is 'Singapore-born and raised'. 'At the end of the day, Singapore for me will always be home. My parents are there, my brother is there, my two young nephews are there. 'As I've grown older, my perspective has changed a lot. 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OPEC+ speeds up oil output hikes, adds 548,000 bpd in August
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