Pressure from Trump for trade deals before Wednesday deadline, but hints
of more time for talks
[July 07, 2025] By
ELLEN KNICKMEYER and MICHELLE L. PRICE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is stepping up pressure on
trading partners to quickly make new deals before a Wednesday deadline,
with plans for the United States to start sending letters Monday warning
countries that higher tariffs could kick in Aug. 1.
That furthers the uncertainty for businesses, consumers and America's
trading partners, and questions remain about which countries will be
notified, whether anything will change in the days ahead and whether
President Donald Trump will once more push off imposing the rates. Trump
and his top trade advisers say he could extend the time for dealmaking
but they insist the administration is applying maximum pressure on other
nations.
Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council,
told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that Trump would decide when it
was time to give up on negotiations.
“The United States is always willing to talk to everybody about
everything,” Hassett said. “There are deadlines, and there are things
that are close, so maybe things will push back past the deadline or
maybe they won’t. In the end the president is going to make that
judgment.”
Stephen Miran, the chair of the White House Council of Economic
Advisers, likewise said countries negotiating in good faith and making
concessions could “sort of, get the date rolled.”
The steeper tariffs that Trump announced April 2 threatened to overhaul
the global economy and lead to broader trade wars. A week later, after
the financial markets had panicked, his administration suspended for 90
days most of the higher taxes on imports just as they were to take
effect. The negotiating window until July 9 has led to announced deals
only with the United Kingdom and Vietnam.
Trump imposed elevated tariff rates on dozens of nations that run
meaningful trade surpluses with the U.S., and a 10% baseline tax on
imports from all countries in response to what he called an economic
emergency. There are separate 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum and a
25% tariff on autos.
Since April, few foreign governments have set new trade terms with
Washington as the Republican president demanded.
Trump told reporters Friday that his administration might be sending out
letters as early as Saturday to countries spelling out their tariff
rates if they did not reach a deal, but that the U.S. would not start
collecting those taxes until Aug. 1. On Sunday, he said he would send
out letters starting Monday — “could be 12, could be 15” — to foreign
governments reflecting planned tariffs for each.
“We've made deals also,” Trump told reporters before heading back to the
White House from his home in New Jersey. “So we'll get to have a
combination of letters, and some deals have been made.”
He and his advisers have declined to say which countries would receive
the letters.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rejected the idea that Aug. 1 was a new
deadline and declined to say what might happen Wednesday.
[to top of second column] |
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before boarding Air
Force One at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, N.J.,
Sunday, July 6, 2025, en route to Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn
Martin)
 “We’ll see," Bessent said on CNN's
State of the Union. "I’m not going to give away the playbook.”
He said the U.S. was “close to several deals,” and
predicted several big announcements over the next few days. He gave
no details.
"I think we’re going to see a lot of deals very quickly,” Bessent
said.
Later Sunday, Trump vowed to impose more tariffs against the BRICS
bloc of developing nations, which had condemned tariffs increases at
its summit in Brazil. Trump said in a post on his social media
platform that any country aligning itself with what he termed “the
Anti-American policies of BRICS” would be levied an added 10%
tariff.
Trump has announced a deal with Vietnam that would allow U.S. goods
to enter the country duty-free, while Vietnamese exports to the U.S.
would face a 20% levy.
That was a decline from the 46% tax on Vietnamese imports he
proposed in April — one of his so-called reciprocal tariffs
targeting dozens of countries with which the U.S. runs a trade
deficit.
Asked if he expected to reach deals with the European Union or
India, Trump said Friday that “letters are better for us” because
there are so many countries involved.
“We have India coming up and with Vietnam, we did it, but much
easier to send a letter saying, ’Listen, we know we have a certain
deficit, or in some cases a surplus, but not too many. And this is
what you’re going to have to pay if you want to do business in the
United States.”
Canada, however, will not be one of the countries receiving letters,
Trump's ambassador, Pete Hoekstra, said Friday after trade talks
between the two countries recently resumed.
“Canada is one of our biggest trading partners,” Hoekstra told CTV
News in an interview in Ottawa. “We’re going to have a deal that’s
articulated."
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said he wants a new deal in
place by July 21 or Canada will increase trade countermeasures.
Hoekstra would not commit to a date for a trade agreement and said
even with a deal, Canada could still face some tariffs. But “we’re
not going to send Canada just a letter,” he said.
___
Price reported from Bridgewater, New Jersey. AP Business Writer Matt
O'Brien in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.
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