Trump Stresses July Tariff Threat, Bessent Teases Extension

Mint

7 hours ago

President Donald Trump hardened his threat to raise tariffs on certain countries by his July 9 deadline, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaled there may be some extensions to wrap up major pacts by the Labor Day holiday.
The statements Friday are the latest sign that some negotiations with larger partners may extend past early July, but that Trump is weighing higher rates for smaller economies that have not reached agreements with the US.
'At a certain point over the next week and a half or so, or maybe before, we're going to send out a letter, we talked to many of the countries that we're just going to tell them what they have to pay to do business in the United States,' Trump said Friday at a White House press conference.
Asked if the mid-July deadline was set in stone, Trump suggested he could even shorten the timeline for trading partners seeking deals.
'We can do whatever we want. We could extend it, we could make it shorter,' Trump said. 'I'd like to make it shorter. I'd like to just sent letters out to everybody, 'Congratulations, you're paying 25%.''
Taken together, the remarks injected further uncertainty into what the president will decide when it comes to tariff levels for some of the country's top trading partners.
Earlier in the day, Bessent said on Fox Business 'we have countries approaching us with very good deals' but said that they all might not be finished by the date when Trump's April 2 country-based tariffs are set to kick back in.
He noted Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's comments from a day earlier that the White House has imminent plans to reach agreements with 10 major trading partners.
'If we can ink 10 or 12 of the important 18 — there are another important 20 relationships — then I think we could have trade wrapped up by Labor Day,' Bessent said. This year, Labor Day falls on Sept. 1. Nearly five dozen countries and the European Union are facing higher rates on July 9, barring a deal.
Later, when asked about Bessent's comments, Trump declined to respond directly when asked which countries may be completed by Labor Day.
The Treasury chief reiterated that there are 18 important trading partners, and noted that the US has already done a deal with the UK and reached an accommodation with China, so those two 'are behind us for now.'
Trump in April put tariffs on dozens of American trading partners on pause for three months a week after declaring them, when markets panicked over the possibility they could trigger a global recession.
Lutnick, speaking on Bloomberg Television on Thursday, said that Trump was prepared to finalize a slate of trade deals in connection with that July timeframe.
'We're going to do top 10 deals, put them in the right category, and then these other countries will fit behind,' Lutnick said.
Trump and his advisers initially laid out ambitious plans for the negotiating period, suggesting concurrent talks with dozens of partners on reducing trade deficits, eliminating barriers to American goods and reshoring more manufacturing.
'We've got 90 deals in 90 days possibly pending here. And it was par for the course, actually it was a birdie for President Trump to do exactly what he did, which was pause for 90 days,' White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told NBC's Meet the Press back in April.
EU officials are optimistic they can reach a deal by the July 9 deadline to avoid a tariff hike. Trump has threatened a 50% levy on the bloc, which is planning its own countermeasures.
But that has not happened, as some trading partners have dug in on negotiations and with Trump indicating he would be willing to just unilaterally impose tariff levels if he was unhappy with the terms obtained in talks.
It is also unclear how comprehensive the trade deals the administration is moving to lock up will be. Such agreements can typically take years to negotiate. The pact with the UK that Trump has hailed as comprehensive still leaves critical points unresolved, and the China accord leaves open questions about fentanyl trafficking and US exporters' access to Chinese markets.
Trump has suggested India is one nation that could be close to finalizing a deal. A team of Indian trade officials was slated to hold meetings with officials in Washington this week.
Bessent separately said Friday that the US isn't looking to reshore all types of manufacturing, but instead focus on higher-value products.
'We are going to bring back precision manufacturing jobs,' he said at an event held by the Faith & Freedom Coalition. 'We're not going to make socks and towels again,' he added, noting that he recently took criticism for saying that the textile output of his childhood in South Carolina wasn't going to return.
'We're going to have high-end, craft manufacturing,' he continued, citing uniforms for first responders and US military as examples.
The Treasury chief said South Carolina was among the places that were 'left by the wayside' following China's entry into the World Trade Organization, a time he characterized as 'capitalism without guardrails.'
With assistance from Akayla Gardner and Josh Wingrove.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.