First there were “concepts of a plan,” then there were tariff trade “subdeals,” and now, per National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, there are trade deals “in principle.”
The Trump administration is running out of time on its self-imposed 90-day deadline to craft 90 trade agreements in the wake of Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff pitch. By mid-April, the administration claimed it had more than a dozen potential deals in the works with nations eager to sort out their trade arrangements with the United States. But since then, the White House has had practically nothing positive to show for its drastic economic overhaul.
“You told us even before ‘Liberation Day’ that you had 15 countries that were on the brink of making a deal. It’s been nearly two months and you’ve had one deal, so what is the hold up?” asked a reporter.
“There’ve been a whole bunch of deals,” Hassett laughed.
“I’m sorry, with what country?” the reporter pressed.
“So you don’t think the deal with China counts as a deal? The deal with the U.K.? We’ve got an agreement in principle with India,” Hassett said.
“Everybody—you could talk to Jamison Greer, Scott Bessent, Howard Lutnick—everybody has seen awesome deals that are on the table,” Hassett continued, shrugging, as he referred to the U.S. trade representative, the Treasury secretary, and the commerce secretary, respectively. “Last week we were in the Middle East cutting trillions of dollars in deals with our Middle Eastern friends…. Now we’re closing the trade deals because the president is back in the country.”
REPORTER: You told us before “liberation day” that you had 15 countries that were on the brink of making a deal. It’s been two months and you have one deal.HASSETT: No. There have been a whole bunch of deals. So you don’t think the deal with China counts as a deal? We have an… pic.twitter.com/H3hmBArSrX
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 19, 2025
Meanwhile, countries “from Seoul to Brussels” have taken notice of China’s turtle-pace winning strategy against Trump’s punishing tariffs and are seemingly deciding to slow down their own trade negotiations with U.S. officials, Bloomberg reported Sunday.
“This shifts the negotiating dynamic,” Stephen Olson, a former U.S. trade negotiator, told Bloomberg. “Many countries will look at the outcome of the Geneva negotiations and conclude that Trump has begun to realize that he has overplayed his hand.”
Some of those nations could be banking on the fact that the U.S. will be the first to feel the sting of Trump’s tariffs, forcing a policy change from within, before they have to show their own hands.
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