US close to several trade deals, announcements to be made in next days, Bessent says
The US Treasury chief says the Trump administration was focused on 18 important trading partners that account for 95% of the US trade deficit
[WASHINGTON] The US is close to clinching several trade deals ahead of a Jul 9 deadline when higher tariffs kick in, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday (Jul 6), 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 US doesn’t have much trade, notifying them that they would face higher tariff rates first set on Apr 2 and then suspended until Jul 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 Aug 1 you will boomerang back to your Apr 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 US and other countries.
Trump on Apr 2 announced a 10 per cent base tariff rate and additional amounts for most countries, some ranging as high as 50 per cent. The news roiled financial markets, prompting the US president to suspend all but the 10 per cent base rate for 90 days – until Jul 9 – to allow more time for negotiations to secure deals, but the process has proven more challenging than expected.
Bessent denied that Aug 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.
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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.
“You know, the US is always willing to talk to everybody about everything that’s going on in the world,” he said. “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 programme that countries needed to make concessions to get lower tariff rates.
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“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 per cent of the US 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.
Hassett told CBS News that framework agreements already reached with Britain and Vietnam could provide guidelines for other countries seeking trade deals with Washington.
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 per cent, but offered no details. Bessent, asked about the 70 per cent rate, referred back to the Apr 2 list, but that did not include rates that high. REUTERS
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