Donald Trump believes that the U.S. will impose higher tariff rates on many trading partners rather than reaching agreements with all transactions.
Washington will impose new tariffs “in the next two to three weeks,” the U.S. president said at a meeting with business directors in the United Arab Emirates on Friday.
Trump said that while "150 countries" want to agree to the deal, it is "it's impossible to see the number of people who want to see us."
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will “elementally tell people about letters” and “what they will pay for doing business in the United States”, he added.
Trump put up as much as 50% tariffs on most U.S. trading partners in early April, and then lowered them to 90 days to give countries time to negotiate lower taxes.
The president's proposal that the country may face higher tariffs by the deadline will inject further uncertainty into the unstable U.S. trade policy promotion, which has been marked by a series of reversals and turnovers.
Since Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs came into effect in early April, U.S. officials have been holding talks with the country's major trading partners, with foreign negotiators trying to fulfill their worst duties.
With the “reciprocity” tariffs imposed by Trump on most U.S. trading partners, his administration has also announced 25% tariffs on steel, aluminum and automatic imports.
It also introduced taxes that could lead to semiconductors, medicines, copper, wood, critical minerals and aerospace parts.
So far, only the UK has reached a limited deal to reduce tariffs on some Trump's sectors and reduce export rates for limited numbers of cars and steel and aluminum exports to the United States.
But London failed to reduce Trump's "reciprocity" tariffs to below 10%. U.S. officials said it would be the minimum tariff imposed by Washington.
U.S. officials are in talks with South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, India, the EU and other partners to reduce potential U.S. tariffs on goods.
Last weekend, Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer tried to reduce trade tensions with China, which led both sides to significantly lower tariffs and agreed to further negotiations.