TMTPOST -- U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Thursday signaled the Trump administration see a series of trade deals with with 10 major trading partners to be done in the next two week.
Credit：Xinhua News Agency
「We』re going to do top 10 deals, put them in the right category, and then these other countries will fit behind,」 Lutnick said in a Bloomberg interview on Thursday. If Lutnick』s prediction comes true, 10 countries would meet the deadline of July 9, which is when the Trump administration』s reciprocal tariffs return to higher levels from the baseline level 10%.
Lutnick didn』t specify which countries would reach agreements with U.S, though he noted a deal with India is near completion as negotiations are at the 「close finish line.」
Earlier Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump also singled out India, suggesting White House is nearing an agreement with the South Asian country. 「We are having some great deals. We have one coming up, maybe with India. Very big one,」 said Trump during his remarks at the 「Bill Beautiful Bill」 event at White House. The president didn』t eleborate details of the possible deal, but said 「we』re going to open up India.」
Trump reiterated that his team will work with some of trading partners to strike a deal while for other partners, U.S. will skip the negotiation with a direct proposal of tariffs. 「We』re not going to make deals with everybody. Some we are just going to send them a letter, say thank you very much. You』re to pay 25, 35, 45%. That』s the easy way to do it, and my people don』t want to do it that way. They want to do some of it, but they want to make more deals than I would do,」 he said.
However a report on Thursday suggested the outlook of U.S.-India deal may not as rosy as the Trump team touted, dampening hopes of reaching a deal ahead of the July deadline. Trade negotiations between U.S. and India have hit a roadblock over disagreements on import duties for auto components, steel and farm goods, Reuters cited Indian officials familiar with the matter. It was reported that India is seeking to remove Trump』s proposed 26% reciprocal tariffs on India, along with concessions on existing U.S. leveies on steel and auto parts, but U.S. negotiators have not agreed to the demand.
Trump announced on April 9 in a post he has authorized a 90-day pause and 「a substantially lowered reciprocal tariff」 of 10% during this period, both effective immediately. The White House clarified that Trump』s announcement of a 90-day pause on tariffs means that the 「tariff level will be brought down to a universal 10% tariff」 during that time, while 「negotiations are ongoing.」
More than a month later, Trump acknowledged the administration was unable to handle tariff talks with so many trading partners by a self-imposed deadline July 9. The president on May 16 said he would set tariff rates for other countries 「over the next two to three weeks」, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick would send letters to these nations 「telling people what they will be paying to do business in the United States.」
Trump didn』t specify which countries would receive letters about his proposed tariff rates and which would have the opportunities to start negotiations, but stated there are 150 countries seeking to make a deal. "I guess you could say they could appeal it, but for the most part I think we're going to be very fair. But it's not possible to meet the number of people that want to see us," said the president.
Trump on June 11 told reporters trade negotiations were continuing with about 15 countries, including South Korea, Japan and the European Union. He said the United States would send out letters in one to two weeks outlining the terms of trade deals to dozens of other countries, which they could embrace or reject.
