Trump Says Countries To Start Paying Tariffs From August 1

President Donald Trump said he plans to start sending letters informing trading partners of their tariff rates as soon as Friday, as negotiations to avoid higher US levies enter the final stretch.

"My inclination is to send a letter out and say what tariff they're going to be paying," he told reporters on Thursday. "It's just much easier."

He added: "We're going to be sending some letters out, starting probably tomorrow."

Countries will start paying the tariffs from August 1, the president said. "They'll range in value from maybe 60 or 70 percent tariffs to 10 and 20 percent tariffs," Trump added.

His comments come days before steeper duties are set to take effect on dozens of economies -- customized to each of them -- ranging from Taiwan to the European Union. 

These tariffs were part of a broader announcement in April where Trump imposed a 10 percent duty on goods from almost all trading partners, with a plan to step up these rates for a select group within days.

But he swiftly paused the hikes until July 9, allowing for trade talks to take place.

Countries have been pushing to strike deals that would help them avoid these elevated duties.

US officials have signaled that there could be a flurry of trade pacts announced in the coming days.

But so far, the Trump administration has only unveiled deals with the United Kingdom and Vietnam, while Washington and Beijing agreed to temporarily lower staggeringly high levies on each other's products.

As his July deadline approaches, Trump has repeatedly said he plans to inform countries of US tariff rates by sending them letters.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)