The United States will reset tariffs to President Donald Trump‘s original April levels for the countries that do not reach a new deal with Washington by August 1, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
Bessent told Fox News on Sunday that several trade deals being negotiated are in the “home stretch.”
In an interview with CNN, the Treasury Secretary said President Trump would also send out letters to 100 smaller countries with whom the U.S. doesn’t have much trade that they would face higher tariffs.
“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 imposes worldwide trade tariffs amid economic concerns
Pakistan and India are among countries currently hold talks to finalize trade deals with the United States.
Both Islamabad and New Delhi are said to have made substantive progress toward concluding deals with the Trump Administration.
However, the two South Asian countries have been tightlipped about any details of their possible deals.
As part of America First policy, Trump introduced reciprocal tariffs on each country to make trade fair to the United States. Later, he later paused for 90 days to make room for negotiations.
The president announced a 10% base tariff rate on most countries and additional duties ranging up to 50%. The effective date for all tariffs but 10% was moved to July 9, giving a three-week negotiations window to countries.
Trump says his intervention with trade leverage averted India-Pakistan nuclear war
During the Fox News appearance, host Shannon Bream also asked the Treasury Secretary if it is fair to say there’s a bit of a pause on the July 9th deadline for some of these trading partners.
“I don’t think it’s a bit of a pause because I think what’s happened is there’s a lot of congestion going into the home stretch and, as a part of the trade team, what’s great about having President Trump on our side is he’s created maximum leverage,” Bessent replied.
He expected progress on negotiations with trade partners.
“By telling our partners that they could boomerang back to the April 2nd date, I think it’s really going to move things along over the next couple of days and weeks,” he added.
Bessent is speculated to be Trump’s choice for Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, if the president fires Powell.
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