US President Donald Trump said his administration would begin sending letters to other countries intimating them about the tariff rates they would be paying from Friday. He said he wants to inform the countries what they would need to pay in order to maintain trade with the US rather than striking a deal with each of the countries.
“My inclination is to send a letter out and say what tariff they’re gonna be paying. It’s just much easier. We have far more than 170 countries, and how many deals can you make? And you can make good deals, but they’re very much more complicated,” he told reporters in Iowa, as mentioned in The Hill.
“I’d rather send out a letter saying this is what you’re going to pay to do business in the United States…And I think it will be well received,” he said.
The tariff letters would go out to roughly 10 countries per day beginning Friday, the report added. This announcement comes ahead of the July 9 deadline that was set by the Trump administration to broker deals with certain countries after the announcement of the reciprocal tariffs. The 90-day pause was given to ensure there was enough room for negotiations. He temporarily lowered the tariff rate to 10 per cent for most countries to allow negotiations until July 9.
Trump said the potential tariff rates would be in the range of 20 per cent, 25 per cent or 30 per cent. The US has already struck a deal with the UK and Vietnam, and has agreed on a framework for a deal with China.
The President said they expected a ‘couple’ more detailed agreements with other countries, even negotiations would be skipped for many countries.
Top aides of former US President Donald Trump had set a target in April to work on 90 trade deals within 90 days, a goal met with doubt by trade experts due to the complex nature of trade negotiations.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Bloomberg Television that around 100 countries are expected to receive a reciprocal tariff rate of 10 per cent. He also predicted a surge of trade deals would be announced before the July 9 deadline, when tariffs could increase significantly.
If 10 per cent tariffs are applied to 100 countries, it would be fewer than the 123 jurisdictions originally listed by the Trump administration for the 10 per cent tariff rate. This list included mostly small countries and some territories like Australia’s uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands.
Major trading partners involved in ongoing talks have faced high tariff rates, including 20 per cent for the European Union, 26 per cent for India, and 24 per cent for Japan. Countries not participating in talks face even steeper tariffs, such as 50 per cent for Lesotho, 47 per cent for Madagascar, and 36 per cent for Thailand.
