President Donald Trump wrote to countries that have not signed a trade agreement with the United States, informing them of the new tariff rates.
The White House confirms international trade deal deadlines
White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt confirmed that the administration had sent letters to all trading partners ahead of the tariff deadline.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said he has been leviing 25% tariffs on goods from Japan and South Korea since August 1 as Republicans continue their pressure campaign against longtime US allies who have yet to enter into new trade deals with his administration.
Trump broke the news on July 7th through a true society. There he posted a letter to the leaders of two Asian economic powers warning of retaliatory and identical reciprocal increases if he decides to raise tariffs in the US.
Other letters from Trump are expected to focus on small US trading partners. Up to 100 people were allowed to go out before July 9, when the president’s suspension on tariff charges was due to expire. The administration said the fees would be effective on August 1 if the country did not reach another arrangement with the US earlier.
The new date is a few weeks behind the current deadline for mutual customs duties to take effect. Trump announced his tariffs in early April, pausing after market turmoil. Last week, the president acknowledged that the White House pledge proved complex with 90 different transactions cut in 90 days with American trading partners.
The administration ultimately spent a lot of time negotiating with large countries and countries with the most substantial trade deficits. The president and his advisors were also focused on pushing Trump into Congress, a massive tax and spending bill that he signed the law on July 4th.
Trump initially said he would raise tariffs on many countries on April 2, but most countries suspended them until 12:10am on July 9, while his administration called for new trade deals. The so-called “liberation day” tariffs have shook the financial markets. After that, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ set up new records and recovered them.
Since then, Trump has announced a trade deal with Vietnam and the UK and a framework agreement with China. He left a baseline tariff of 10% in most other countries, introducing increased tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, as well as exemptions for some foreign-made auto parts and automobile parts. He is threatening again
The president said on July 3 that, because the process was easy, he would soon begin sending regular batches of fees that determine fees for selling products in the United States rather than negotiating individual trade transactions.
“How many deals can you make?” Trump told reporters. “There are many more deals available, but they are very complicated,” he added: “It’s so many countries.”
The conflict is heading this week with major trading partners such as Canada, Mexico, India and the European Union, but Trump’s Treasury Secretary said new proposals are flooded with within 48 hours of the July deadline.
As of the early afternoon of July 7th, the only letter Trump has released was directed towards South Korea and Japan.
More letters are expected soon
Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent said in CNN’s “coalition nation,” Trump will write to 100 small countries with little trade to the United States, notifying him that he will face the tariff rate he set in April and will then be suspended.
“President Trump is going to send a letter to some of our trading partners saying that if things don’t move, they’ll return to the tariff levels of April 2 on August 1. So I think we’ll see a lot of transactions very quickly,” Bescent told CNN.
Bessent denied that August 1 is the new deadline for negotiations. “We say this is when this is happening. If you want to speed things up, you have it. If you want to go back to the old rate, that’s your choice,” he told CNN.
Kevin Hassett, who heads the White House National Economic Council, provided some wiggling room for countries engaged in serious negotiations in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Contributors: Bert Janssen, Joey Garrison
