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Tariffs will return to the levels introduced by President Trump in April if countries don’t accept the new deals offered to them by the US, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said.
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Bessent said that, absent a deal, countries could expect to return to the rates President Trump introduced under his “reciprocal” tariff rates in April. This would happen on 1 August.
“It’s not a new deadline,” Bessent said.
“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.”
On Friday, President Trump said tariff letters would be sent to countries today. He declined to name which countries would be receiving the letters, saying their identities would be revealed after the letters have been sent, nor did he provide details of the deals or the rates that would be imposed if the deals were not accepted.
“I signed some letters and they’ll go out on Monday, probably twelve,” Trump said.
“Different amounts of money, different amounts of tariffs.”
The US had initially sought a process of negotiation with other nations over the President’s flagship tariff policy, but after difficulties with Japan and the European Union, the administration has settled on a different tack.
At present, the only agreements reached by the Trump administration have been with Britain, which reached a deal to keep 10% tariffs and secured preferential treatment for a number of sectors including cars and aircraft, and with Vietnam, which saw tariffs on Vietnamese goods cut from a threatened 46% to 20%, with some Vietnamese goods allowed to enter the US duty-free.
“The letters are better,” Trump told reporters.
“Much easier to send a letter.”
During his interview on Sunday, Bessent said he believes a number of deals are still possible.
“We are close to several deals. As always, there’s a lot of foot-dragging on the other side,” he said.
“I would expect to see several big announcements over the next couple of days.”
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