President Trump says the U.S. may be close to announcing new tariff agreements as his administration faces pressure to strike deals with major trade partners before a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs ends on July 9.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump said in a Truth Social post that he would announce a “major trade deal” with a “big, highly respected country.” He followed that early Thursday with another post on the social media platform saying that it “should be a very big and exciting day for the United States of America and the United Kingdom” and that the accord would be full and comprehensive.”
Mr. Trump was scheduled to make a formal announcement in the White House later Thursday morning. The overtures with the U.K. could be the first of other trade deals, with Mr. Trump and his team in negotiation mode with foreign leaders from Canada, Italy, India, Japan and other trading partners since announcing his “Liberation Day” tariffs on April 2.
In the meantime, small businesses, investors and consumers await to see how the trade deals will shake out amid ongoing uncertainty on where the economy is headed. A 10% baseline tariff on most imported goods from abroad has been in effect since April 5, while so-called reciprocal tariffs against other countries — with the exception of China — are paused until July.
By far, the country hit hardest by tariffs is China. Mr. Trump has imposed levies of as high as 145% on Chinese imports, with the country firing back with 125% tariffs on American goods. The U.S. trade war with the manufacturing giant is already having an impact on American businesses and consumers. A broad range of enterprises have announced price hikes due to tariffs, while experts warn of potential pandemic-like supply shortages to come as early as summer.
As rumblings from the Trump team indicate some trade agreements might be announced before the week’s end. Here’s what to know as negotiations continue.
Where do negotiations stand?
While the Trump administration has floated a few different timelines for deals to be announced, it has not specified any dates or countries.
“I’d be surprised if we don’t have more than 80 or 90% of those wrapped up by the end of the end of the year. And that may be much sooner,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told lawmakers on Tuesday, referring to countries with which the U.S. has trade deficits.
Some experts, however, believe negotiations will take longer.
Han-koo Yeo, a senior fellow with the Peterson Institute for International Economics believes that countries with whom the Trump administration is negotiating will have it in their interest to move slowly in their trade discussions. That’s because of the longterm implications these deals will have, the former South Korean trade minister told CBS MoneyWatch.
Negotiations will likely drag past May into June, according to Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, although some countries might be motivated to act quickly.
“Everyone facing negotiations has been told to submit letters with their ‘best offers,'” Bremmer said in an email to CBS MoneyWatch, “and smaller countries that desperately want/need deals are complying.”
Who is the U.S. negotiating with?
Bessent told the House committee Tuesday that the U.S. has 18 “important trading relationships” and is currently negotiating with 17 to reach deals. “Many of our trading partners have approached us with very good offers and we are in the process of renegotiating those,” he said.
The Trump administration in recent weeks has discussed trade and tariffs with Canada, Italy, India, Japan and the United Kingdom.
It’s unclear which deals will be announced first, but Clayton Allen, who covers politics and policy in Washington for Eurasia Group, said to look for deals with Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and India — countries that have been engaged in trade negotiations with the U.S. the longest.
Eurasia predicts a deal with Japan could come in mid-June.
China absent from negotiations as of yet
What Bessent did make clear to Congress on Tuesday is that the U.S. has not yet entered into active trade talks with China. President Trump in April said that he had spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping amid tariff tensions, but China denied any talks between Beijing and Washington had taken place.
The Treasury secretary, however, is set to meet with a high-level Chinese delegation this weekend while conducting trade talks in Switzerland, the Trump administration announced Tuesday.
A post from the Chinese Embassy on X confirmed the meeting. “Based on full consideration of global expectations, China’s interests, and the appeals of the U.S. business community and consumers, #China has decided to agree to engage with the #US side,” the posts reads. “As China’s lead on China-U.S. economic and trade affairs, Vice Premier He Lifeng will hold talks with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during his visit to #Switzerland from May 9 to 12.”
What could trade agreements look like?
While it’s hard to predict what any potential tariff deals might include, Yeo, who has helped orchestrate several bilateral and mulitlateral trade negotiations in the past, said such agreements would likely be nonbinding “gentlemen’s agreements.”
In other words, the U.S. could come to an agreement with a trading partner only to renege later on by issuing additional tariffs.
“The framework deal is only as good as the nice piece of paper that you write it down on,” said Eurasia’s Allen. “Trade deals are very, very complex animals, and you’re going to get probably top line agreement on some key issues of concern with a promise to come back and negotiate other things,” he said.
Asked by Ohio Rep. Dave Joyce about the format of the deals, Bessent on Tuesday said, “I expect that we can see a substantial reduction in the tariffs that we are being charged, as well as nontariff barriers, currency manipulation and the subsidies of both labor and capital investment.”
More details on tariffs may be coming soon. During an Oval Office meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said that his team would spell out specific tariff rates for each country — although he clarified that number could be adjusted in the future.
“It’s going to be a very fair number, it’ll be a low number,” the President said. “We’re not looking to hurt countries, we want to help countries. We want to be friendly with countries.”