- President Trump plans to send 12-15 tariff letters or deals to trading partners this week
- Commerce Secretary Lutnick confirmed tariffs go into effect on 1 August, not July 9
- US has trade deals only with Britain and Vietnam; talks with China eased some tariffs
While the Trump administration in the United States is prepping to send letters to Washington's trading partners, dictating new tariffs, confusion persists over when the pause on President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" reciprocal tariffs will be lifted and new rates come into effect. With his previously announced 90-day pause on tariffs set to end on 9 July, the President said that the new rates would come into effect this week, while his top officials suggested that they might be delayed until August 1.
Talking to reporters on tariffs letters Sunday, Trump said, "It could be 12, maybe 15 [letters]...and we've made deals also, so we're going to have a combination of letters and some deals have been made."
When asked about the pause deadline, he said, "No, they're going to be tariffs, the tariffs, the tariffs are going to be, the tariffs...I think we'll have most countries done by July 9, yeah. Either a letter or a deal."
New Tariff Date
But while the President was completing his sentence, his Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, jumped in, saying, "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."
Lutnick, however, denied that it was a way of delaying the deadline. "The President is setting the rates and the deals right now," he said.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also denied that Trump was setting a new deadline with the August 1 date. He said that the playbook was to apply "maximum pressure" and cited the European Union as an example, saying they are "making very good progress" after a slow start.
In a later update on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the US would begin delivering "TARIFF Letters, and/or Deals" from 12 pm ET on Monday.
Trump Tariffs
Trump had announced sweeping tariffs on April 2 -- which he called "Liberation Day" -- imposing a 10 per cent duty on imports from almost all trading partners. Some countries, including some within the European Union and China, were slated to have far higher rates as well, ranging up to 50 per cent. The US, however, later delayed the effective date for all but 10 per cent until July 9.
Now, the new August 1 date offers countries a further three-week reprieve but also plunges importers into an extended period of uncertainty due to the lack of clarity around the tariffs.
With the pause set to expire on Wednesday, there have been limited results in Washington's efforts to form trade packs with partners. So far, the US only has deals with Britain and Vietnam, while agreeing with China to temporarily lower staggeringly high levies on each other's products.
