Trump and US commerce secretary say tariffs are delayed until 1 August
Trump says team will start reaching out to trade partners with new tariff rates as 90-day pause ends this week
Highlights:
- Trump says US finalizing multiple trade deals soon
- New tariff rates to be announced by July 9
- Tariffs will take effect starting August 1
- Base tariff rate is 10%, can reach up to 50%
- EU trade talks reportedly making good progress
- 100 smaller countries to receive tariff hike letters
Donald Trump said on Sunday that the US is close to finalizing several trade agreements in the coming days and will notify other countries of higher tariff rates by July 9, dictating new tariff rates to be imposed on goods they sell to Americans. "It could be 12, maybe 15," the president told reporters, "and we've made deals also, so we're going to have a combination of letters and some deals have been made."
With his previously announced 90-day pause on tariffs set to end on 9 July, the president was asked if the new rates would go into effect this week, or on 1 August, as some officials had suggested, says the Guardian.
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"No, they're going to be tariffs, the tariffs, the tariffs are going to be, the tariffs," the president began, uncertainly, "I think we'll have most countries done by July 9, yeah. Either a letter or a deal."
Sensing the confusion, his commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick jumped in to add: "But they go into effect on August 1. Tariffs go into effect August 1, but the president is setting the rates and the deals right now."
Trump in April had announced a 10% base tariff rate on most countries and additional duties ranging up to 50%, although he later delayed the effective date for all but 10% until 9 July. The new date of 1 August offers countries a further three-week reprieve, but also plunges importers into an extended period of uncertainty.
Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, told CNN's earlier on Sunday that several big announcements of trade agreements could come in the next days, noting the European Union had made good progress in its talks.
He said 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 2 April and then suspended until 9 July.
