Hours earlier than President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs have been set to take impact in April, he stated, “These international locations are calling us up, kissing my a**. They’re dying to make a deal. ‘Please, please, sir, make a deal. I’ll do something, I’ll do something, sir.”
Then after he initially paused these tariffs in April, his high commerce advisor, Peter Navarro, promised the president was going to realize “90 (commerce) offers in 90 days.”
It’s been 111 days since he stated that, nonetheless, and solely two offers have been finalized, one among which – with China – expires in two weeks. Trump has introduced a handful of commerce agreements over the previous month with buying and selling companions, however till they’re finalized, they’re primarily tough drafts. And within the case of a kind of tough drafts, it’s not even fully clear what the draft says. Trump introduced a “deal” with Vietnam in a Fact Social put up earlier this month, however the Vietnamese authorities hasn’t publicly confirmed any particulars.
So what occurred to all these promised offers?
As Trump’s unique 90-day “reciprocal” tariff deadline of July 8 approached, Trump and members of his administration started to alter their tone, pointing fingers at different buying and selling companions for not negotiating in “good religion.”
“I believe what President Trump is anxious about is the standard of the offers, not the amount,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated in an interview earlier this month.
Then, after Trump prolonged the July 8 deadline to August 1, he started sending out a flurry of letters to heads of state informing them of the tariff charges their respective international locations’ items would face absent a commerce deal.
“A letter means a deal,” the president stated at a Cupboard assembly on July 8.
