WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s administration could extend a July deadline when higher tariffs on imports from dozens of countries are set to kick in, the White House said on Thursday.
While Trump has imposed a sweeping 10 percent tariff on most US trading partners this year, he unveiled — then halted — steeper rates on dozens of economies while negotiations took place.
That pause is set to expire on July 9.
Asked if there were plans to further the pause, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters: “Perhaps it could be extended, but that’s a decision for the president to make.”
“The deadline is not critical,” she told a media briefing.
“The president can simply provide these countries with a deal if they refuse to make us one by the deadline,” Leavitt added.
This means Trump can “pick a reciprocal tariff rate that he believes is advantageous for the United States,” she said.
She later added, “Perhaps it could be extended, but that’s a decision for the president to make.”
On the progress of trade negotiations, Leavitt added that US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is “working very hard” and has had “good and productive discussions with many of our key trading partners.”
Trump in late May had threatened to impose 50 percent tariffs on the European Union. But two days later he agreed to delay that duty until July 9, after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she needed an extension to “reach a good deal.”
Trump is also coming up against the expiration of a 90-day pause on his imposition of “reciprocal” US tariffs on nearly all other countries.
That reprieve, which dropped the near-universal tariffs to a blanket 10 percent, is set to end on July 8.
Stocks rose to session highs following Leavitt’s remarks Thursday afternoon, which were just the latest signal that Trump may not hold fast to the deadlines he previously announced.
Earlier Thursday, White House Council of Economic Advisers chairman Stephen Miran told Yahoo Finance that he expected those deadlines would be extended for countries engaged in “good faith” trade negotiations with the US.
In those cases, “I don’t see why [tariff] rates would snap back higher,” Miran said.
Earlier in June, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testified before the House Ways and Means Committee that it was “highly likely” that Trump would push back his July 8 deadline.
