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By Hugh Cameron
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President Donald Trump may unilaterally decide the tariff rates that countries will face if they fail to strike a deal by the end of the 90-day pause on reciprocal duties, according to the White House.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt commented on the imminent end to the pause announced on April 9. Leavitt said that the July 9 deadline was "not critical" and could be extended, before stating that Trump may decide on the rates applied to each country's imports himself.
"The president can simply provide these countries with a deal if they refuse to make us one by the deadline," Leavitt said. "And that means the president can pick a reciprocal tariff rate that he believes is advantageous for the United States and for the American worker."
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Newsweek reached out to the Commerce Department and the U.S. Trade Representative's Office via email for comment.
Why It Matters
Since the pause on reciprocal tariffs was placed, only days after Trump unveiled them on April 2, the administration has been working to solidify deals with its most critical trading partners. However, besides one with the United Kingdom and a preliminary set of agreements with China, the White House has yet to confirm any major trade deals, raising questions about the administration's next steps once the pause ends.
What To Know
On April 2, Trump imposed country-specific duties on dozens of America's top trading partners, alongside a 10 percent global baseline rate, to address historic trade imbalances that he said had "devastated our industrial base and put our national security at risk."
The reciprocal rates included a 46 percent tariff on Vietnam, in response to what the administration calculated as Vietnam's 90 percent duty on U.S. imports, alongside a 34 percent rate for China and 20 percent for the European Union.
Trump's decision to suspend these new tariffs on April 9 was met with elation from abroad, as many countries voiced their desire to strike a deal with the U.S. within the 90-day window. The White House framed the move as a real-world demonstration of Trump's "art of the deal."
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in April that "more than 75" nations had approached the administration to negotiate a trade agreement more favorable to the U.S. in the hopes of reducing their reciprocal tariff rates.
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However, in the months that have followed, only a deal with the U.K. has been cemented.
Trump and administration officials said this week that the U.S. and China have also struck a deal. Beijing confirmed on Friday that the two sides have finalized details of the trade framework first discussed during a meeting between representatives in Geneva, Switzerland.
In May, Bessent stated that countries that failed to reach a deal with the U.S. would see their tariffs revert to the rates announced on Liberation Day, telling CNN, "If you do not negotiate in good faith, you will ratchet back up to your April 2 level."
Earlier this month, Bessent told the House Ways and Means Committee that there were 18 "important" trading partners with which the U.S. was primarily focused on reaching a deal. He added that, in the case of those, such as the EU, who are "negotiating in good faith," the deadline could be extended beyond this date before their tariffs revert to the April 2 levels.
What People Are Saying
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at a press conference following an EU Summit in Brussels, said she was analyzing the latest trade proposals from the U.S. and that the EU is "ready for a deal."
"At the same time, we are preparing for the possibility that no satisfactory agreement is reached," she said. "And we will defend the European interest as needed. In short, all options remain on the table."
President Donald Trump, during an event at the White House this week, said the U.S. was "not going to make deals with everybody."
"Some we're just going to send them a letter and say thank you very much, you're going to pay 25, 35, 45 percent, that's the easy way to do it."
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg on Thursday: "We'll announce some deals, but basically the deals we're going to announce are the ones that are sort of the head of the class, the structural spot in the line, and then all the other countries will fit behind those categories."
What Happens Next
The Trump administration has a few days left before the end of the pause and is likely to fall short of its previously promised goal of "90 deals in 90 days." However, as Leavitt said on Thursday, the president retains the choice to extend this deadline.
Lutnick said that the "top ten deals" would be announced by July 9, and that these would inform how other agreements would be set up, explaining that "you'll have South American deals, African deals—it'll all be structured and set up."
"Those who have deals will have deals, and everybody else who's been negotiating with us will get a response from us and then go into that package, and on July 9 we'll move forward," he said. "As the president said, if people want to come back and negotiate further, they're entitled to. But that tariff rate will be set, and off we'll go."
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