A looming deadline to make trade deals doesn’t necessarily matter, President Trump said Sunday, because the U.S. will simply send letters to hundreds of countries assigning tariff rates.
The pause on Trump’s sweeping global tariffs expires in about 10 days, with one deal and one temporary truce in hand, and the rest of the world in varying states of limbo.
“We made deals, but I’d rather just send them a letter, a very fair letter, saying ‘congratulations, we’re going to allow you to trade in the United States of America, you’re going to pay a 25% tariff, or 20%, or 40 or 50%.’ I would rather do that,” Trump said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Asked about extending the pause, Trump said “I don’t think I’ll need to. I could, there’s no big deal.”
“What I wanted to do is, and what I will do just — sometime prior to the 9th — is we’ll send a letter to all these countries,” he added.
“I’m going to send letters. That’s the end of the trade deal,” Trump said, giving U.S. ally Japan as an example.
“Dear Mr. Japan, here’s the story. You’re going to pay a 25% tariff on your cars,” he said.
Trump said letters would go out “pretty soon” and that “we don’t have to meet. We understand, we have all the numbers.”
Trump made similar promises of unilateral tariff letters on May 16 and June 11, saying both times they’d be sent in 2 to 3 weeks.
That didn’t happen.
When Trump paused the stiffest of the reciprocal tariffs in early April, officials promised they’d make 90 deals in 90 days before the pause expired.
Both Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett have promised a flurry of deals as soon as this coming week.
Similar past promises, though, didn’t result in agreements.
On Friday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said trade deals could be wrapped up by Labor Day, a softening of the negotiation window.
Financial markets have largely moved past trade drama, with U.S. stocks hitting a new record on Friday.
Trump’s promise to unilaterally assign tariff rates in the coming days could revive some of the uncertainty that caused markets to sink earlier this year.
