U.S. President Donald Trump’s 35 per cent tariff deadline expires tomorrow. However, the White House is suggesting that nations without a trade deal may still be able to do so before the clock strikes midnight..
During a Thursday press conference at the White House, U.S. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the president could drop tariffs on its trading partners if a deal is struck before the deadline.
“August 1, the reciprocal rates will go into effect,” Leavitt said. “If more deals are cut between now and midnight, I will never count out the president; you’ve seen him do it before. He cut three deals in one day, very recently. So we’ll see what happens.”
She signalled that the U.S. was looking to cut deals before its tariff deadline.
“We promised that the President would negotiate with countries all around the world to cut tailor-made trade deals depending on those countries’ challenges, how badly they’ve ripped off the United States of America and our manufacturing industry and our workforce in the past,” Leavitt said. “And he has done that.”
Without naming countries or leaders, Leavitt confirmed that foreign leaders are “ringing his phone” trying to bring offers to the table to evade Trump’s tariffs.
“Of our 18 major trading partners, two-thirds of those trading partners have a deal. We’ve sent out 17 letters to countries around the world, and the rest of those countries that either do not have a deal or have a letter,” Leavitt said. “They will be hearing from this administration by the midnight deadline tonight.”
Leavitt said “upwards of 200 countries around the world” reached out to the U.S. trade and tariff team and that the Americans will “prioritize (the U.S.’s) key trading partners.” She said the U.S. trade team would be “working around the clock” trying to correspond with as many partners as possible before the deadline.
“But if they haven’t heard from us yet, they will in the form of a letter or an executive order. By midnight tonight,” Leavitt said. “He will be signing an executive order at some point this afternoon or later this evening.”
Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday that Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent decision to preemptively and conditionally recognize a Palestinian state in September, “makes it very hard” to reach a U.S.-Canada trade deal.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has been taking heat for failing to get a trade deal done with the U.S., as other countries worldwide are striking major deals.
Leavitt mentioned Canada only once when talking about Carney’s move to recognize a Palestinian state.
“The President expressed his displeasure and his disagreement with the leaders of France, the United Kingdom, and Canada,” she said. “He feels as though about supporting Hamas at a time when Hamas is the true impediment to a cease-fire and to the release of all of the hostages.”
When announcing his plan to support a vote for Palestinian statehood, Carney noted, among other reasons, that Hamas would have to be excluded from governance as a condition for statehood. Though Canadian Jewish advocacy groups criticized Carney’s plan, stating that, under its current conditions, recognizing a Palestinian state would impede peace and embolden Hamas.