President Trump on Monday indicated there may be some wiggle room for nations to negotiate on trade despite his fresh threat of additional tariffs going into effect on Aug. 1<\/p>\n
Trump spoke to reporters hours after he issued letters to roughly a dozen countries informing them that they would face tariff rates of 25 percent or higher beginning Aug. 1. That deadline was delayed from July 9.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs the Aug. 1 deadline firm now? Is that it?\u201d a reporter asked Trump during a dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I would say firm, but not 100 percent firm,\u201d Trump replied. \u201cIf they call up and they say ‘we\u2019d like to do something a different way,’ we\u2019re going to be open to that. But essentially that\u2019s the way it is right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump earlier Monday announced his administration would impose a 25 percent tariff on Japan and South Korea, two of the United States\u2019s largest trading partners. He also announced tariff rates that will go into effect next month on goods from Indonesia (32 percent), Bangladesh (35 percent), South Africa (30 percent), Malaysia (25 percent) and a handful of other countries.<\/p>\n
The White House has indicated Trump will announce additional letters in the days to come.<\/p>\n
The timing and severity of tariffs on other nations have been shifting targets since Trump took office, after vowing on the campaign trail to aggressively impose duties on imports. He has reportedly threatened tariffs on other nations, only to back off or delay their imposition.<\/p>\n
The president on April 2 announced \u201creciprocal\u201d tariffs on dozens of other countries, using trade deficits to help calculate the tariff rate. But a week later, he lowered those rates to 10 percent for 90 days as markets reacted negatively, giving time for negotiations. The 90-day window is set to expire Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve talked to most of the countries and pretty much they\u2019ve had their way for many, many decades, as you know, and it was time we just wanted fairness,\u201d Trump said Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Trump on Monday indicated there may be some wiggle room for nations to negotiate on trade despite his fresh threat of additional tariffs going into effect on Aug. 1<\/p>\n