TMTPOST -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he prefers directly dictating tariffs over complex negotiations, and his administration may start send letters notifying multiple countries of new tariff rates they will face as early as Friday.
Credit：Xinhua News Agency
Trump on Thursday reiterated he doesn’t want to extend the July 9 deadline for higher reciprocal tariffs, but acknowledged it’s too complex to handle negotiations with so many trading partners. "We have more than 170 countries, and how many deals can you make? You can make more deals, but they’re very much more complicated," Trump told reporters before departing for Iowa, adding that “It’s just so many countries.”
Trump expected a couple more detailed agreements with other countries following the U.S.-Vietnam trade deal he announced a day earlier, when he said U.S. would impose 20% tariffs on all goods imported from the Southeastern Asian country and 40% tariffs on “any Transshipping.”
But Trump prefer to have flat tariff rates such as 20%, 25% or 30% for each country, rather than negotiating with countries seeking deals, which began talking specific products. For him, sending letters is easier than securing trade deals.
“My inclination is to send a letter out saying what tariff they’re going to be paying. It’s just easier,” Trump said. The president anticipated to send letters to about 10 countries per day, starting on July 4, this Friday. “I’d rather just do a simple deal where you can maintain and control it,” he said.
Trump suggested his letters will lay out the tariff rates that will apply when his pause on tariffs ends and the Trump administration’s reciprocal tariffs are set to return to higher levels from the baseline level 10%. Trump on April 9 said that he has authorized a 90-day pause and “a substantially lowered reciprocal tariff” of 10% during this period, both effective immediately.
Treasury Secretary Bessent earlier Thursday said around 100 countries are like to face a 10% reciprocal tariff. "We'll see how the President wants to treat those who are negotiating, whether he's happy that they're negotiating in good faith," Bessent told Bloomberg.
"I think that we're going to see about 100 countries who just get the minimum 10% reciprocal tariff and will go from there. So I think we're going to see a lot of action over the coming days," Bessent said.
Bessent said in a Bloomberg interview on Monday that he expects U.S. will make “a flurry” of trade deals with trading partners ahead of the July 9 deadline. Though he warned that "recalcitrant" countries that their tariff levels could soon snap back to the levels announced on April 2, a date Trump proclaimed “Liberation Day”.
"We have countries that are negotiating in good faith, but they should be aware that if we can't get across the line because they are being recalcitrant, then we could spring back to the April 2 levels. I hope that won't have to happen," Bessent said on Monday. He added that any potential extensions will be Trump’s decision.
Bessent on Thursday echoed that it is Trump who would decide whether to extend the July 9 deadline for trading partners negotiating in good faith. “We’re going to do what the president wants, and he’ll be the one to determine whether they’re negotiating in good faith,” Bessent said on CNBC when asked if the deadline might be lengthened. “I’m not going to give people a 10% extension on national TV when they should try to get it across the finish line.”
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