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The White House says businesses shouldn’t worry if President Donald Trump’s tariffs go into effect on Friday.
“I would think that it’s not the end of the world if these snapback tariffs are on for anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, as long as the countries are moving forward and trying to negotiate in good faith,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday on CNBC.
On Wednesday, Trump said there will be no more delays, posting in all caps that “THE AUGUST FIRST DEADLINE IS THE AUGUST FIRST DEADLINE.”
If deals aren’t reached, Trump will likely unilaterally impose a new rate, a reality that Bessent said would make the president “equally as happy.”
“I think, for President Trump, the — for me, what’s given us a lot of negotiating leverage is, he’s happy to do the deal, but he’s equally as happy, sometimes in more cases — in some cases, more happy just to have the tariff income,” Bessent said.
Major US trading partners — including Canada, Mexico, and South Korea — still haven’t reached an agreement. Trump has threatened to impose a 50% tariff on Brazil if authorities don’t end the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
On Wednesday, Trump appeared to end months of talks with India, which was one of the biggest partners that had to reach a deal. He wrote on Truth Social that Indian goods would be subject to a 25% tariff and an additional penalty for buying Russian oil.
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Separately, Trump has sent letters informing roughly two dozen nations of the rate the US will impose if a deal isn’t reached. Some of those rates differ from the original ones Trump announced when he rolled out his so-called reciprocal tariffs in April.
Earlier on Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that deals with the rest of the world will be done by Trump’s deadline. The only exception will be for China, where talks have proceeded on a different timeline.
“For the rest of the world, we’re going to have things done by Friday. And Friday is not that far away,” Lutnick said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” ‘So you should expect, we said August 1st is the date that we’re setting all these rates, and they are off to the races after that.”
Trump said before July 9 that he was reluctant to delay the tariffs further. He later did so, setting up the August 1 cutoff.
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