Trump to Announce the Same Tariff Rate for 150 Small Countries
The U.S. will set one tariff rate for "smaller countries" in a "notice of payment" without negotiation, President Donald Trump said.
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Speaking to reporters after a July 16 meeting with the crown prince and prime minister of Bahrain, Trump said that every letter his administration sends out is a deal with that country. He went on to say that the "big one" will be on the 150 countries "that we're really not negotiating with, and they're smaller." He said that the U.S. does not do much business with them because "you have a lot of countries, you have over 200 countries," which he said is something "a lot of people don't know."
This letter will not be like other letters sent to countries with which the U.S. is actively negotiating "like China, like Japan," but will instead be a "notice of payment" which will state the tariff rate, Trump said. He said that this rate is "all going to be the same for everyone, for that group."
He didn't mention what that rate would be, but on July 15 he told reporters that it will "probably [be] a little over 10%." Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick elaborated that "small countries" would cover some Caribbean and African nations.
Trump said the next day that "probably we'll live by the letter" for Japan, reiterating his pessimism for a deal with that country, but said that "we're very close to a deal with India, where they open it up" (see 2507020035).