Trump says US nears trade deals as tariff deadline delayed
The United States is close to finalizing several trade pacts in coming days and will notify other countries of higher tariff rates by July 9, President Donald Trump said on Sunday, with the higher rates set to take effect on August 1.
Since taking office, Trump has set off a global trade war that has roiled financial markets and sent policymakers scrambling to protect their economies, through efforts such as deals with the United States and other countries.
In April Trump unveiled a base tariff rate of 10% on most countries and additional duties ranging up to 50%, although he later delayed the effective date for all but 10% until July 9. The new date offers countries a three-week reprieve.
Trump, whose remarks to reporters on Sunday came just before his return to Washington from a weekend golfing in New Jersey, had flagged the August 1 date earlier, but it was unclear if all tariffs would increase then.
Asked to clarify, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters the higher tariffs would take effect on August 1, but Trump was "setting the rates and the deals right now."
In a posting on his Truth Social website, Trump later said the U.S. would start delivering tariff letters from 12:00 pm ET (1600 GMT) on Monday.
In a separate post, he rolled out a wholly new tariff policy, calling for countries "aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies" of the BRICS developing nations to be charged an extra 10% tariff, with no exceptions to be granted.
The first BRICS summit in 2009 was attended by leaders from Brazil, China, India and Russia, with South Africa joining later while Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were included last year.
Trump has close ties to leaders of some of those countries, such as Saudi Arabia and UAE, and has been touting the prospect of a trade deal with India for weeks.
On Sunday, BRICS leaders condemned attacks on Gaza and Iran, called for reforms to global institutions and warned that the rise in tariffs threatened global trade.
It was not immediately clear if Trump's tariff threat would derail trade talks with India, Indonesia and other BRICS nations, however.
Earlier on Sunday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNN's "State of the Union" that several big trade agreements would be announced in the next days, adding that European Union talks had made good progress.
Trump would also send letters to 100 smaller countries with which the United States does not have much trade, notifying them of higher tariff rates, he added.
"President Trump's going to be sending letters to some of our trading partners saying that if you don't move things along, then on August 1 you will boomerang back to your April 2 tariff level," Bessent said.
"So I think we're going to see a lot of deals very quickly."
Kevin Hassett, who heads the White House National Economic Council, told CBS's "Face the Nation" program there might be wiggle room for countries engaged in earnest negotiations.
"There are deadlines, and there are things that are close, and so maybe things will push back past the deadline," Hassett said, adding that Trump would decide.
Source: Reuters
