U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would send a letter within the next 2 to 3 weeks informing each country of what they need to pay to do business in the United States.
On the 16th (local time), Reuters reported that President Trump said at a business roundtable held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that “150 countries want to negotiate, but it is impossible to look at that many countries.”
President Trump said, “We will be very fair,” but noted that “it is not possible to handle those who want to meet us.” He did not specify how many countries he would send letters to.
Previously, President Trump mentioned, “If we do not negotiate, we (the United States) will decide that, and we will also set the numbers,” indicating that the new tariff rates could be determined unilaterally by the United States.
Last month, after announcing the imposition of reciprocal tariffs of more than 10% on all countries, President Trump granted a 90-day grace period on tariffs for the so-called ‘worst offending countries.’ Subsequently, the Trump administration reached an agreement with the United Kingdom and is in negotiations with major trading partners, including South Korea, Japan, and India.
The Trump administration exchanged ‘tariff bombs’ with China, the primary target of the tariff war, but agreed to reduce reciprocal tariffs by 115 percentage points each.