During the closing of his Middle East trip on Friday, former President Donald Trump acknowledged that the speed of US trade talks had been too sluggish to keep up with all 150 nations waiting for new agreements with America. For this reason, Trump announced Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick would soon issue letters to trading partners telling them about the tariffs they would pay if a deal is not reached within a few weeks.
Addressing a business roundtable in Abu Dhabi, Trump reiterated that while the US seeks to be equitable, it cannot sit with every nation willing to negotiate a deal. He went on, “Over the next two to three weeks, Scott and Howard will be sending letters out, basically telling people what they’ll be paying to do business in the United States.”
Trump initially suspended his proposed “reciprocal tariffs” on April 9, allowing nations 90 days to negotiate. Approximately 100 countries showed willingness to sit down and talk, putting huge pressure on US trade negotiators to tie them up in quick deals. Without agreements, some tariffs would be as high as 50%, affecting numerous small countries with huge trade deficits.
So far, the government has been able to negotiate lower tariffs frameworks with the UK and China. Negotiations with other nations, such as India, Japan, and South Korea, are in progress but are delayed. Whether new tariffs would substitute or temporarily complement suspended reciprocal tariffs is still uncertain, but the average tariffs of U.S. imports stand at about 13%, much higher than pre-Trump rates of 2.3%.
Trump’s zigzagging tariff policies have created uncertainty for consumers and business, with economists sounding the alarm on recession risk. In spite of pledges of many deals, complicated negotiations suggest that outcomes will take much longer than timelines set by Trump. In the meantime, American consumers will likely pay more for imported products.
