Trump gives countries Wednesday deadline for best offer on trade talks

WASHINGTON — President Trump has given countries a Wednesday deadline to make their best offers on trade — with the White House calling it a “deadline” to submit offers to avoid massive reciprocal tariffs due to take effect on July 8.The office of the US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer sent a letter, reported Monday by Reuters, “to all of our trading partners just to give them a friendly reminder that the deadline is coming up,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed at her Tuesday briefing.Greer, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick “are in talks with many of our key trading partners around the globe… and they continue to be engaged in those discussions.And this letter was simply to remind these countries that the deadline is approaching and the President expects good deals, and we are on track for that,” Leavitt said.Leavitt added that “each country has unique advantages and unique challenges to it, based on their markets and what they export to us and what we export to them.

And so that’s why the president smartly advised his trade team to engage in tailor-made deal-making.And we saw that with the United Kingdom, and we will see that with other countries as well.”Trump will sign orders later Tuesday to increase tariffs on steel and aluminum to 50% — after previously tightening 25% rates to end exceptions for top importers.Trump on April 2 announced sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs on countries, as well as a new 10% baseline tariff on most nations, which is roughly triple the prior rate.

He paused most of the reciprocal tariffs shortly after they took effect to allow for trade talks.Thus far, Trump has reached deals-in-principle with China and the UK, though neither has been formally drafted and ratified — as a court battle rages over the legality of the reciprocal levies.The Chinese deal in May ended a tit-for-tat escalation that saw US tariffs rocket to about 145% before they we...