Washington— Former U.S. President Donald Trump announced that his administration will begin sending letters to various countries in the coming days to notify them of their new tariff rates, as part of the government’s ongoing efforts to enforce “reciprocal” tariffs.
Speaking at a press briefing, Trump said the letters would be sent “over the next week and a half or so” and would outline what each country will be required to pay to conduct business in the United States. His administration’s pause on the implementation of these tariffs is currently set to expire on July 8, though Trump noted the pause could be either extended or shortened depending on how negotiations progress.
“We talked to many of the countries,” Trump said. “We’re just going to tell them what they have to pay to do business in the United States.”
When asked if the temporary suspension of tariffs could be extended, Trump responded, “We can do whatever we want. We could extend it. We could make it shorter. I’d like to make it shorter. I’d like to just send letters out to everybody saying, ‘Congratulations. You are paying 25 percent.’”
South Korea and several other U.S. trading partners have been in active talks with Washington to avoid or reduce the impact of these reciprocal tariffs. The proposed 25% duties were originally announced on April 2 and went into effect on April 9, but were paused for 90 days to allow time for negotiations.
Earlier in the day, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business that the administration aims to wrap up trade talks with key partners by Labor Day, September 1. He noted that discussions are progressing well and that trading partners are bringing “very good” offers to the table.
“There are 18 important trading partners,” Bessent said, adding that deals have already been reached with the United Kingdom and that an accommodation has been made with China. “If we can ink 10 or 12 of the important 18 — and there are another 20 significant relationships — then I think we could have trade wrapped up by Labor Day.”
Countries like South Korea are pushing to finalize trade agreements before the July 8 deadline to avoid being subject to the new tariffs. (Source: IANS)
