Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick insisted Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s upcoming Friday deadline to impose major tariffs on a slew of trading partners won’t be delayed any further.
But trade negotiations with China — the latest round of which are currently taking place in Stockholm, Sweden — are progressing on a separate timeline, Lutnick noted on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“We have our own team working with China. They’re their own thing,” he said. “But for the rest of the world, we’re going to have things done by Friday.”
“August 1 is the date that we’re setting all these rates, and they are off to the races after that,” he added.
Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of countries’ imports are set to begin Friday. The president had first rolled out the far-reaching trade plan in early April, but he has since postponed the import taxes multiple times.
Earlier this month, Trump shared letters sent to more than two dozen world leaders that set new tariff rates on their countries’ exports to the U.S. starting Aug. 1.
Most of those new tariff rates were close to the levels Trump had initially set in April, which were calculated using a formula that drew criticism from many economists. But some — in particular, a staggering 50% blanket tariff on imports from Brazil — were much higher.
Lutnick has previously said that Friday is the “hard deadline” for those tariffs to start being paid — though he has also noted that the U.S. is still open to negotiating with countries after that date.
Asked on CNBC about the status of trade negotiations with individual trading partners, Lutnick suggested that Trump has repeatedly rejected potential deals in pursuit of better terms for the U.S.
“What’s happened is many, many countries had made us okay offers to open their markets. You know, 50%, 30%,” Lutnick said. “The president said, ‘No, no, I want them open.'”
“So now the price of a deal with the United States of America is black and white, completely open markets,” Lutnick said. “He wants to make sure that Americans can sell their goods overseas.”
“So are there deals on the table for him to consider? Yes,” Lutnick said.
“But [the president] knows that he can just set the rate and set the price and move on.”
