US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he intended to send letters to trading partners in the next one to two weeks setting unilateral tariff rates, ahead of a July 9 deadline to reimpose higher duties on dozens of economies.
“We’re going to be sending letters out in about a week and a half, two weeks, to countries, telling them what the deal is,” Trump told reporters at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington where he was attending a performance.
“At a certain point, we’re just going to send letters out. And I think you understand that, saying this is the deal, you can take it or leave it,” he added.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Trump in April announced higher tariffs on dozens of trading partners only to pause them for 90 days, as markets swooned and investors feared the levies would spark a global downturn.
It is unclear if Trump would follow through with his pledge. He has often set two-week deadlines for actions, only for them to come later or not at all.
Trump on May 16 said he would be setting tariff rates for US trading partners “over the next two to three weeks.”
After marathon talks between the US and China earlier this week in London, Trump on Wednesday said the trade framework with China had been completed and would have Beijing supply rare earths and magnets, with the US allowing Chinese students to study at US colleges and universities.
The US applies 55 percent tariffs on Chinese goods, Trump added.
This is a combination of his 30 percent additional levies this year and the rough average of pre-existing duties, a White House official said.
Trump said Beijing charges 10 percent duties on US goods.
Meanwhile, the US dollar extended its decline as worries over US tariffs increased after Trump said he would notify trading partners soon of unilateral levies.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index yesterday slid as much as 0.6 percent to the lowest level since July 2023, extending the previous day’s drop spurred by softer US inflation data. The euro rose to its strongest since November 2021.
“[US] dollar weakness has much more room to run,” Aviva Investors senior economist and strategist Vasileios Gkionakis said.
The greenback’s weakness despite rising US Treasury yields show eroding investor confidence in US assets, he added.
Currency traders would have been monitoring US producer-price data due late yesterday for confirmation of subdued pressures. Traders would also be watching the upcoming G7 summit for any trade negotiation developments.
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