By Ed Ballard
President Trump said the U.S. is poised to inform many trading partners of unilateral tariff rates of up to 70%, putting global investors on the defensive with U.S. markets closed for July Fourth.
The notices will be sent to countries by July 9, the president said. That is the White House's self-imposed deadline for ending a 90-day pause on so-called "reciprocal" tariffs first unveiled in April.
"We're going to start sending letters out to various countries starting tomorrow," Trump told reporters late Thursday. "We'll probably have 10 or 12 go out tomorrow, and over the next few days, I think by the 9th, they'll be fully covered. And they'll range in value from maybe 60 or 70% tariffs to 10 and 20% tariffs."
He said the tariffs would kick in from the start of August.
The higher end of that range would be more than almost all the reciprocal rates that Trump had floated earlier. Except for China, the highest of those was 50%.
So far, the administration has struck trade pacts with the U.K. and Vietnam, and an on-again, off-again truce with China. Others such as the European Union and Japan have been striving to secure agreements.
The Trump administration is giving priority to talks with a core group of trading partners, for whom Wednesday's deadline might be flexible, but the U.S. doesn't have the capacity to negotiate in detail with every global counterpart. Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. "could have trade wrapped up by Labor Day," and is focused on deals with 18 key trading partners.
However, when asked in an earlier gathering with the media on Thursday about other agreements, Trump said: "We have a couple of other deals, but you know, my inclination is to send a letter out and say what tariffs they are going to be paying."
The renewed trade tensions weighed on markets. Global investors were also considering the deficit-boosting megabill that is headed for the president's desk.
As of late morning in London Friday:
-- Futures pegged to the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 slipped less than 1%. U.S. stocks had set records heading into the holiday weekend, after an unexpectedly strong jobs report. -- European and Asian benchmarks were mixed. South Korea's Kospi index fell 2%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 inched up 0.1%. -- The dollar weakened modestly against the Swiss franc and the Japanese yen.
Write to Ed Ballard at ed.ballard@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 04, 2025 07:16 ET (11:16 GMT)
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