Bessent Says He Expects Trade Deals by This Week’s Deadline
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
US Close to Several Trade Deals, Announcements Expected in Coming Days: Bessent
Higher tariff rates were first set on April 2 and then suspended until July 9, giving countries time to negotiate. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicts several big announcements in the coming days. President Donald Trump will also send out letters to 100 smaller countries with whom the U.S. doesn’t have much trade. Trump on Friday said countries not offering concessions could see their tariff rates spike up to 70 percent, referred back to the April 2 list that did not include that high rate, which did not Include India.. India and the United States are likely to make a final decision on a mini trade deal in the next 24 to 48 hours, local Indian news channel CNBC-TV18 reported on Sunday, with average tariffs on Indian goods shipped to the U.,S. to be 10 percent, it said. The news roiled financial markets, prompting the president to suspend all but the 10 percent base rate for 90 days–until July 9–to allow more time for negotiations to secure deals.
WASHINGTON–The United States is close to clinching several trade deals ahead of a July 9 deadline when higher tariffs were due to kick in, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday, predicting several big announcements in the coming days.
Bessent told CNN’s “State of the Union” that President Donald Trump would also send out letters to 100 smaller countries with whom the U.S. doesn’t have much trade, notifying them that they would face higher tariff rates first set on April 2 and then suspended until July 9.
“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. So I think we’re going to see a lot of deals very quickly,” Bessent told CNN.
Trump on April 2 announced a 10 percent base tariff rate and additional amounts for most countries, some ranging as high as 50 percent. The news roiled financial markets, prompting the U.S. president to suspend all but the 10 percent base rate for 90 days–until July 9–to allow more time for negotiations to secure deals.
Bessent denied that August 1 was a new deadline for negotiations. “We are saying this is when it’s happening. If you want to speed things up, have at 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, in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program, offered some 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 if that could happen. ‘I Hear Good Things’ Stephen Miran, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told ABC News’ “This Week” program that countries needed to make concessions to get lower tariff rates.
“I hear good things about the talks with Europe. I hear good things about the talks with India,” Miran said. “And so I would expect that a number of countries that are in the process of making those concessions… might see their date rolled.”
Bessent told CNN the Trump administration was focused on 18 important trading partners that account for 95 percent of the U.S. trade deficit. But he said there had been “a lot of foot-dragging” among countries in finalizing trade deals.
He declined to name countries close to a trade agreement, “because I don’t want to let them off the hook.”
Trump has repeatedly said India is close to signing a deal and expressed hope that an agreement could be reached with the European Union, while casting doubt on a deal with Japan.
Thailand is making a last-ditch effort to avert a 36 percent tariff by offering greater market access for U.S. farm and industrial goods, along with increased purchases of U.S. energy and Boeing jets, Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira told Bloomberg News on Sunday.
India and the United States are likely to make a final decision on a mini trade deal in the next 24 to 48 hours, local Indian news channel CNBC-TV18 reported on Sunday, with average tariffs on Indian goods shipped to the U.S. to be 10 percent, it said.
Hassett told CBS News that framework agreements already reached with Britain and Vietnam could provide guidelines for other countries seeking trade deals with Washington. He also said Trump’s pressure was prompting many countries to move production to the United States.
Miran called the Vietnam deal “fantastic.”
“It’s extremely one-sided. We get to apply a significant tariff to Vietnamese exports. They’re opening their markets to ours, applying zero tariff to our exports.”
Trump on Friday said countries not offering concessions could see their tariff rates spike up to 70 percent, but offered no details. Bessent, asked about the 70 percent rate, referred back to the April 2 list, which did not include rates that high.
By Andrea Shalal and Nathan Layne
Trump tariffs live updates: Trump set to impose tariffs of up to 70% in letter push as July 9 deadline looms
President Trump says he will start sending out letters to countries to notify them of the tariff rates they will face on exports to the US. The first 10 or 12 letters sent out will be followed by similar batches. The Trump team has so far been focused on hammering out trade deals.
Trump said Friday he would start sending out letters to countries to notify them of the tariff rates they will face on exports to the US, to go into effect on Aug. 1. The first 10 or 12 letters sent out will be followed by similar batches.
“By the ninth they’ll be fully covered,” Trump said in reference to the deadline, per Bloomberg. “They’ll range in value from maybe 60% or 70% tariffs to 10% and 20% tariffs.”
The Trump team has so far been focused on hammering out trade deals, though it has succeeded in nailing only three pacts so far.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said around 100 partners would likely see a minimum “reciprocal” rate of 10% come next week, adding that he expects a “flurry” of deals to materialize before the deadline.
Here is where things stand with various partners:
US close to several trade deals, announcements expected in coming days, Bessent says
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says some countries are ‘foot-dragging’ on getting to deals. He says President Trump will send letters to 100 smaller countries with whom the U.S.’s doesn’t have much trade. Trump on April 2 announced a 10% base tariff rate and additional amounts for most countries, some ranging as high as 50%. The news roiled financial markets, prompting the president to suspend all but the 10% rate for 90 days – until July 9 – to allow more time for negotiations to secure deals. The White House National Economic Council offered some wiggle room for countries engaged in earnest negotiations, saying the deadline could be extended in some cases. “There are deadlines, and there are things that are close, and so maybe things will push back past the deadline,” said Kevin Hassett, who heads the White House’s National Economic council. ‘I HEAR GOOD THINGS’ says White House Council of Economic Advisers chairman Stephen Miran, chairman of ABC News’ “This Week” program.
Summary
Companies Higher tariffs to kick in on August 1
White House’s Hassett says deadline could be extended in some cases
Treasury secretary says 100 smaller countries to get tariff letters soon
Bessent says some countries ‘foot-dragging’ on getting to deals
WASHINGTON, July 6 (Reuters) – The United States is close to clinching several trade deals ahead of a July 9 deadline when higher tariffs were due to kick in, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday, predicting several big announcements in coming days.
Bessent told CNN’s “State of the Union” that President Donald Trump would also send out letters to 100 smaller countries with whom the U.S. doesn’t have much trade, notifying them that they would face higher tariff rates first set on April 2 and then suspended until July 9.
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“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. So I think we’re going to see a lot of deals very quickly,” Bessent told CNN.
Since taking office, Trump has set off a global trade war that has upended financial markets and sent policymakers scrambling to guard their economies, including through deals with the U.S. and other countries.
Trump on April 2 announced a 10% base tariff rate and additional amounts for most countries, some ranging as high as 50%. The news roiled financial markets, prompting the U.S. president to suspend all but the 10% base rate for 90 days – until July 9 – to allow more time for negotiations to secure deals.
Bessent denied that August 1 was a new deadline for negotiations. “We are saying this is when it’s happening. If you want to speed things up, have at 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, in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program, offered some 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 if that could happen.
‘I HEAR GOOD THINGS’
Stephen Miran, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told ABC News’ “This Week” program that countries needed to make concessions to get lower tariff rates.
“I hear good things about the talks with Europe. I hear good things about the talks with India,” Miran said. “And so I would expect that a number of countries that are in the process of making those concessions… might see their date rolled.”
Bessent told CNN the Trump administration was focused on 18 important trading partners that account for 95% of the U.S. trade deficit. But he said there had been “a lot of foot-dragging” among countries in finalizing trade deals.
He declined to name countries close to a trade agreement, “because I don’t want to let them off the hook.”
Trump has repeatedly said India is close to signing a deal and expressed hope that an agreement could be reached with the European Union, while casting doubt on a deal with Japan.
Thailand is making a last-ditch effort to avert a 36% tariff by offering greater market access for U.S. farm and industrial goods, along with increased purchases of U.S. energy and Boeing (BA.N) , opens new tab jets, Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira told Bloomberg News on Sunday.
India and the United States are likely to make a final decision on a mini trade deal in the next 24 to 48 hours, local Indian news channel CNBC-TV18 reported on Sunday, with average tariffs on Indian goods shipped to the U.S. to be 10%, it said.
Hassett told CBS News that framework agreements already reached with Britain and Vietnam could provide guidelines for other countries seeking trade deals with Washington. He also said Trump’s pressure was prompting many countries to move production to the United States.
Miran called the Vietnam deal “fantastic.”
“It’s extremely one-sided. We get to apply a significant tariff to Vietnamese exports. They’re opening their markets to ours, applying zero tariff to our exports.”
Trump on Friday said countries not offering concessions could see their tariff rates spike up to 70%, but offered no details. Bessent, asked about the 70% rate, referred back to the April 2 list, which did not include rates that high.
Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Brendan O’Brien; Editing by Bill Berkrot
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Investors head into Trump tariff deadline benumbed and blasé
Investors say benign outcomes priced in ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Wednesday deadline for trade tariffs. Trump said the first batch of letters outlining the tariff levels they would face on exports to the United States would be sent to 12 countries on Monday. Investors who have been tracking this date for months expect more details to emerge in the coming days and protracted uncertainty. World stocks are meanwhile at record highs, up 11% since April 2. They fell 14% in three trading sessions after that announcement but have since rallied 24%. The dollar has suffered a knock to its reputation from the dithering on the Trump tariffs, which had its worst half of the year since 1973, declining by 11%. It has fallen by 6.6% in the first half of this year alone, the first time it has fallen that much in a year since 2007. The markets are discounting a tariff levels of 35%, 40% or higher, and anticipating an across-the-board level of 10% or so, analysts say.
Item 1 of 2 A screen displays news on U.S. President Donald Trump on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., June 27, 2025. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo
Summary Pause on Trump’s April 2 tariffs expires on Wednesday
Stocks have risen despite tariff volatility, dollar hurt
Investors say benign outcomes priced in
SINGAPORE/NEW YORK, July 6 (Reuters) – Global investors are heading into U.S. President Donald Trump’s Wednesday deadline for trade tariffs palpably unexcited and prepared for a range of benign scenarios that they believe are already priced in.
Just days before the end of a 90-day pause he announced on his April 2 “Liberation Day” tariffs, Trump said the first batch of letters outlining the tariff levels they would face on exports to the United States would be sent to 12 countries on Monday.
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Investors who have been tracking this date for months expect more details to emerge in the coming days and protracted uncertainty too, anticipating Trump will not be able to complete deals with all of America’s trading partners in the coming week.
And they are not overly concerned.
“The market has gotten much more comfortable, more sanguine, when it comes to tariff news,” said Jeff Blazek, co-chief investment officer of multi-asset at Neuberger Berman in New York.
“The markets think that there is enough ‘squishiness’ in the deadlines – absent any major surprise – to not be too unsettled by more tariff news and believe that the worst-case scenarios are off the table now.”
Both the tariff levels and effective dates have become moving targets. Trump said on Friday that tariffs ranging up to 70% could go into effect on August 1, levels far higher than the 10%-50% range he announced in April.
So far, the U.S. administration has a limited deal with Britain and an in-principle agreement with Vietnam.
Deals that had been anticipated with India and Japan have failed to materialize, and there have been setbacks in talks with the European Union.
World stocks (.MIWD00000PUS) , opens new tab are meanwhile at record highs, up 11% since April 2. They fell 14% in three trading sessions after that announcement but have since rallied 24%.
“If Liberation Day was the earthquake, the tariff letters will be the aftershocks. They won’t quite have the same impact on markets even if they are higher than the earlier 10%,” said Rong Ren Goh, a portfolio manager in the fixed income team at Eastspring Investments in Singapore.
“This financial system is so inundated with liquidity that it is hard to cash up or delever at the risk of lagging the markets, with April serving as a painful reminder for many who derisked and were then forced to chase the relentless recovery in the subsequent weeks.”
World stocks have roared back to record high
TAXES AND THE FED
Investors have also been distracted by weeks of wrangling in Congress over Trump’s massive tax and spending package, which he signed into law on Friday.
Stock markets have celebrated the passage of the bill, which makes Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent, while bond investors are wary the measures could add more than $3 trillion to the nation’s $36.2 trillion debt.
But the risks of tariff-related inflation have weighed on U.S. Treasuries and the dollar, and jostled expectations for Federal Reserve policy. Rate futures show traders no longer expect a Fed rate cut this month and are pricing in a total of just two quarter-point reductions by year-end.
The dollar has suffered a knock to its haven reputation from the dithering on tariffs. The dollar index , which reflects the U.S. currency’s performance against a basket of six others, has had its worst first half of the year since 1973, declining some 11%. It has fallen by 6.6% since April 2 alone.
“The markets are discounting a return to tariff levels of 35%, 40% or higher, and anticipating an across-the-board level of 10% or so,” said John Pantekidis, chief investment officer at TwinFocus in Boston.
Pantekidis is cautiously optimistic about the outlook for U.S. stocks this year, but the one variable he is watching closely is interest rate levels.
For now he expects to see interest rates dip in the second half, “but if the bond market worries about the impact of the bill and rates go up, that’s a different scenario.”
This heatmap shows the value of the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) across economies.
Reporting by Suzanne McGee, Libby George and Vidya Ranganathan; Editing by William Mallard
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Trump says he is about to raise tariffs as high as 70% on some countries
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On April 9, President Donald Trump gave the world a three-month window to negotiate trade deals with the United States or face higher “reciprocal” tariffs. With just five days remaining in that tariff moratorium, the White House is expected to begin delivering a message to a dozen or so countries: Time is up, and here’s your new tariff rate.
Trump early Friday at Joint Base Andrews told reporters that he would notify 10 to 12 nations a day over the course of the next five days, detailing their new tariffs in letters that the White House would begin sending on Friday. In most cases, the new rates would go into effect August 1, Trump said.
“They’ll range in value from maybe 60% or 70% tariffs to 10% and 20% tariffs, but they’re going to be starting to go out sometime tomorrow,” Trump said. “We’ve done the final form, and it’s basically going to explain what the countries are going to be paying in tariffs.”
In April, Trump imposed “reciprocal” tariffs as high as 50% on most of America’s trading partners. So tariffs of 60% or 70% would exceed those rates, which sent stocks crumbling into bear-market territory, while bonds and the US dollar sold off sharply. US stocks and bonds markets were closed Friday for Independence Day, but stock markets and futures fell around the world.
Video Ad Feedback Hear Trump break down tariffs on various countries 02:59 – Source: CNN Hear Trump break down tariffs on various countries 02:59
It’s not clear yet which countries would receive the letters, but Trump has called out certain trading partners for driving too hard of a bargain, including the European Union and Japan. Trump this week threatened to send a letter to “spoiled” Japan setting its tariff rate as high as 35%. Still, that may have been a negotiating tactic, and it’s not known whether those partners will be among the countries for whom the White House will set new tariffs.
Trump said he expected the letters to be delivered by the administration’s self-imposed July 9 deadline to draft deals. The administration has said at times that its timeframe was flexible for countries that make a good-faith effort to negotiate with the United States.
On Friday, a European Union diplomat told CNN that the trading bloc was in the “middle of very difficult negotiations,” which would likely continue into the weekend as the deadline approaches.
The diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as they are not permitted to speak on the record about closed-door meetings, told CNN the talks are proceeding in a constructive manner, but it is unclear whether the administration’s July 9 deadline will be extended if a finalized agreement isn’t reached in time.
Olof Gill, a trade spokesperson from the European Commission, said in a briefing Friday that he couldn’t share specifics about trade talks since they were in “a very sensitive phase of negotiations.”
For countries that are continuing to negotiate with the United States but have not yet reached a deal, including India, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week that “the deadline is not critical.” That’s a point that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent emphasized to Fox Business last week, too, saying he thinks trade negotiations could be “wrapped up” by Labor Day, providing a more relaxed framework for inking deals than the previously prescribed July 9 deadline.
But Trump appeared to adjust that timeframe on Friday. Asked if countries would be afforded any flexibility with the tariff deadline, Trump said, “not really.”
“They’ll start to pay on August 1. The money will start to come into the United States on August 1, in pretty much all cases,” Trump said.
Still, Bessent on Thursday told Bloomberg TV that he predicted a “flurry” of deals before July 9. And for those who couldn’t reach an agreement with the United States, “about 100 countries” could continue to face only the 10% minimum tariff rates that the United States imposed during Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement on April 2.
Trump appeared to confirm that this week, saying, “We have a couple of other deals,” and, “As we get to the smaller countries, we’re pretty much going to keep the tariffs the same.”
‘How many deals could you make?’
So far, the administration has signed narrow frameworks for trade deal negotiations with just two partners: the United Kingdom and China. Trump this week said his administration has also reached an agreement with Vietnam, though the status of that arrangement remains unknown, and a framework does not appear to have been signed. The White House has not provided terms of the Vietnam agreement beyond a social media post from Trump.
For months, the Trump administration has said deals are imminent, working with 18 key partners to lower trade barriers while hundreds of other countries wait in line to get out from under the burden of higher tariffs.
At one point, Trump said 200 deals were possible and nearly done.
“I’ve made all the deals,” Trump said in a Time interview in late April, saying trade negotiations with foreign partners were nearly complete. “I’ve made 200 deals.”
More than two weeks later, Trump acknowledged that hundreds or even dozens of deals aren’t possible on such a short timeframe — a point he reiterated last Friday at a press briefing at the White House.
“You know, we have 200 countries,” Trump said. “We can’t do that. So 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, and we’re just going to tell them what they have to pay to do business in the United States. And it’s going to go very quickly.”
That idea of establishing new tariffs for countries that can’t or won’t reach a deal with the United States has been floating around for over two months, but the timeline keeps getting pushed back. On April 23, Trump said his administration would “set the tariff” for countries that fail to negotiate new terms in the following few weeks. On May 16, Trump said that “at a certain point, over the next two to three weeks … we’ll be telling people what they’ll be paying to do business in the United States.”
On Thursday, Trump said those letters are a day away.
“It’s just much easier,” Trump said. “We have far more than 170 countries, and how many deals could you make?”
CNN’s Elisabeth Buchwald, Samantha Delouya and James Frater contributed to this report.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/06/business/economy/bessent-trade-deals.html