President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs — set to kick in Friday — are set in stone this time and will not be delayed again, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday.
“No extensions, no more grace periods. Aug. 1, the tariffs are set; they’ll go into place. Customs will start collecting the money, and off we go,” Lutnick said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“Obviously, after Aug. 1, people can still talk to President Trump. I mean, he’s always willing to listen, and between now and then, I think the president is going to talk to a lot of people. Whether they can make him happy is another question.”
Trump announced a 10% baseline tariff rate on all imports to the US and announced a set of customs rates against virtually every country on the planet during his April 2 “Liberation Day” push.
The customized tariff rates were slated to take effect on April 9, but then got delayed 90 days and then postponed again until Aug. 1.
In the time since, Trump has announced preliminary trade deals with the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Additionally, the Trump administration reached a tariff truce with China and set an Aug. 12 deadline to cut a broader deal.
Lutnick stressed that Trump is prioritizing the “big economies” right now.
That includes the European Union. Trump met with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday during his four-day trip to the United Kingdom.
“We set the table. The team sets the table. But Donald Trump does his negotiations by himself,” he emphasized.
The EU is a bloc of 27 countries that, taken together, is one of America’s largest sources of trade. Negotiations with the EU have proven to be lengthy and tricky for Trump.
Trump has a variety of tariffs in place now, such as a 25% rate on automobiles, aluminum, and steel, as well as 25% on imports from Canada and Mexico that don’t comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. He’s also recently mused about jacking up tariffs on Canada and Mexico.
Lutnick touted the revenue gains from those tariffs.
“What’s going to happen is very few products are actually going to move in price,” he predicted. “And basically $700 billion, $800 billion, maybe it’s possible we get near a trillion dollars of revenue, will come into the United States of America, reducing our deficit.”
“What do you think is paying for no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, right?” he added. “I think if you take a look at the whole thing, it’s going to be fantastic.”
Trump has also flexed tariffs in the geopolitical realm. On Saturday, he spoke with the leaders and Cambodia and Thailand, informing them that US trade negotiations will stop unless they cease fighting over a long-contested section of the border.
On July 15, the president also threatened Russia with 100% secondary tariffs on Russian oil if it fails to make a deal with neighboring Ukraine.
That threat could complicate US trade relations with China and India in particular, which have been taking advantage of cheap Russian oil due to the sanctions on Moscow.
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