President Donald Trump said he has signed a letter to 12 countries clarifying different tariffs on goods exported to the US by these countries.
The US president shared this information on an Air Force One plane when arriving in New Jersey. He declined to name the countries involved, stressing that this would be made public on July 7.
"I have signed some letters and they will be sent on July 7, it could be 12 letters. Different amounts of money, different tariffs," Trump said.
Previously, President Trump shared on July 3 that he expected the first letter to be sent on July 4, but there was a correction later.
In April this year, President Trump announced a basic tax rate of 10% and additional taxes for most countries, some of which have a tax rate of up to 50%.
All 10% basic tariffs were then suspended for 90 days to give countries more time to negotiate to reach a trade deal with the US.
The tax exemption period for negotiations ends on July 9. However, on July 4, he said the tax could be even higher, up to 70%, with the tax effective from August 1.
President Trump and his senior assistants initially said they would launch talks with many countries on tariffs, but the US president was no longer interested in that process after many failures with major trading partners, including Japan and the European Union. "Better letters, easier to send," Trump said on July 4.
International media commented that the change in the White House's strategy reflects the challenges in completing trade agreements with very broad content, from tariffs to non- tariff barriers such as the ban on agricultural imports, and especially when time is accelerated. Most previous trade deals have taken years of negotiations to complete.
