Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent admitted that President Donald Trump isn’t going to be able to follow through on his vow to secure 90 trade deals in 90 days.
Bessent was pressed by Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo—one of Trump’s favorite news anchors—about the president’s looming, self-imposed July 9 deadline.
“Maria, with all things, they get done at the end,” Bessent said. “You have to put on a deadline. As you and I know, nothing gets done in Washington well in advance.”
Minutes later, though, Bessent flat-out admitted it wouldn’t happen. He said, “I think we could have trade wrapped up by Labor Day,” which is Sept. 1—nearly two months beyond Trump’s deadline.
July 9 is the date that the moratorium on Trump’s universal tariffs, which roiled the markets when they were revealed back in April, is set to end.
To date, the White House has announced just two trade deals, with the United Kingdom and China—88 short of what was promised.
However, Bessent was hopeful that Trump’s deals would still get done, noting the looming threat of the president’s original sky-high tariffs.
“As President Trump has said, he’s created maximum negotiating leverage… by saying if you can’t get to a deal, he’s happy to go back to the April 2 levels,” Bessent said. “So we have countries approaching us with very good deals.”
The White House has yet to officially extend the deadline.
Asked about the situation Thursday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the deadline was “not critical.”
“Perhaps it could be extended, but that’s a decision for the president to make,” she said.
It wouldn’t be the first time during his second term that Trump has threatened severe consequences before backing off. For one, he has repeatedly rolled back his steep tariffs—like hitting pause on the universal tariffs and lowering China’s rate from 145 percent to 30 percent.
In fact, the pattern has prompted the coining of a popular acronym: TACO, short for “Trump Always Chickens Out.”
The president has made clear his disdain for the slogan, telling a reporter who asked him about it last month, “Don’t ever say what you said. That’s a nasty question.”
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