Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday that President Trump would not grant any further extensions to countries wishing to negotiate trade deals ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo extensions, no more grace periods. Aug. 1, the tariffs are set,\u201d Lutnick said in an interview on \u201cFox News Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey’ll go into place, customs will start collecting the money, and off we go,\u201d Lutnick continued.<\/p>\n
Lutnick added, however, that the president would be open to continuing to negotiate even once the tariffs are in place.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously after Aug. 1, people can still talk to President Trump,\u201d Lutnick said. \u201cI mean, he’s always willing to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The president will also continue to talk to other countries before the Aug. 1 deadline, Lutnick added.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether they can make him happy is another question,\u201d Lutnick said. \u201cBut the president’s definitely willing to negotiate and talk to the big economies for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The interview came shortly before Trump announced a trade deal<\/a> with the European Union, setting tariffs at 15 percent for European goods, including automobiles.<\/p>\n The EU agreed to purchase $750 billion worth of energy from the U.S. as part of the deal, Trump announced on Sunday, and to invest in the U.S. $600 billion more than the current investments for other goods.<\/p>\n The agreement is lower than the 30 percent tariff Trump had threatened to impose<\/a> on the EU, which was set to take effect on Aug. 1, and avoids a trade war with the U.S.’s largest trading partner.<\/p>\n Trump earlier this month\u00a0posted letters<\/a>\u00a0to social media sent to more than a dozen countries vowing to impose steep tariffs on their imports starting Aug. 1.<\/p>\n An initial round of tariffs\u00a0unveiled in April<\/a>\u00a0was\u00a0paused for 90 days<\/a>\u00a0to allow time for negotiations, and the president then pushed the deadline for the tariffs to take effect back by another few weeks \u2014 to Aug. 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday that President Trump would not grant any further extensions to countries wishing to negotiate trade deals ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline. \u201cNo<\/p>\n