Donald Trump has said the US will send letters to some of its trading partners to unilaterally impose new tariff rates, suggesting that Washington lacks the capacity to reach individual trade deals.
Highlighting the challenge for the White House to negotiate deals with scores of countries at once, Trump said it was “not possible to meet the number of people that want to see us”.
Speaking at a meeting with business leaders in the United Arab Emirates on the US president’s tour of the Gulf, he said: “We have, at the same time, 150 countries that want to make a deal, but you’re not able to see that many countries.”
The president said that his treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, would be “sending letters out essentially telling” some of Washington’s trading partners what tariff rates would be imposed on their goods exports to the US market.
The White House has signalled it is prioritising talks with dozens of the US’s largest trading partners, including India, South Korea and Japan, while negotiations with the EU are ongoing.
However, his comments suggest Washington lacks the bandwidth to negotiate with hundreds of countries at once, while indicating that the president will instead push to dictate terms.
Posted by John3262005
2 Comments
Totally normal and totally constitutional
So first Trump promised that tariffs would bring so much money he could get rid of income tax, then they were about renegotiating “unfair” trade deals, and now they’re complaining they don’t have enough staff to negotiate with everyone?
Unbelievable how little they have thought this through