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President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was willing to extend the deadline for countries to reach a trade deal with the United States, but he doesn’t think it will be necessary.
At the same time, he also indicated that in one to two weeks his administration would be sending out letters telling countries “what the deal is.”
Trump made the remarks ahead of a performance of “Les Misérables” that he attended at the Kennedy Center in Washington with the first lady.
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“I would,” Trump said when asked if he would be willing to extend the July 8 deadline for countries to negotiate a trade deal or else face steep tariffs. “But I don’t think we’re going to have that necessity,” the president added, telling reporters “we’re rocking in terms of deals” right now.
Shortly after announcing sweeping tariff policies on April 2 for virtually every U.S. trading partner, the Trump administration chose to institute a 90-day pause to give countries a chance to make a deal with the United States.
Trump noted during the gaggle with reporters ahead of Wednesday’s Kennedy Center performance that the United States remains in talks with about 15 countries with whom it is still trying to cement a deal. But the president said that he intends to send letters to these partners setting unilateral tariff rates if a deal is not reached.
“We’re dealing with Japan. We’re dealing with South Korea. We’re dealing with a lot of them. We’re dealing with about 15 countries. But as you know, we have about 150-plus, and you can’t [make a deal with all of them]. So we’re going to be sending letters out in about a week and a half, two weeks, to countries and telling them what the deal is.”
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“At a certain point, we’re just going to send letters out … saying this is the deal, you can take it or leave it,” Trump added.
Highly anticipated trade talks with China held in London this week led to a preliminary agreement between the world’s two biggest economic powers, but the “framework” is still pending final approval from Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump.
“We made a great deal with China. We’re very happy with it,” Trump told reporters at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday evening. “We have everything we need, and we’re going to do very well with it. And hopefully they are, too.”
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