Bessent says trade talks could be finished by Labor Day [View all]
Source: Politico
06/27/2025 11:21 AM EDT
Updated: 06/27/2025 12:59 PM EDT
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday signaled that the Trump administration’s tariff negotiations with more than a dozen trading partners could stretch until September.
“We have 18 important trading partners — U.K., China are behind us for now — and then Secretary [Howard] Lutnick said yesterday that he expects 10 more deals. So, if we can ink 10 or 12 of the important 18 — there are another important 20 relationships — then I think we could have trade wrapped up by Labor Day,” Bessent told Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo.
President Donald Trump on Friday also told reporters the previously announced July deadline remains flexible during a press conference. “We can do whatever we want,” Trump said. “We could extend it, we could make it shorter. I’d like to make it shorter. I’d like to just send letters out to everybody: ‘Congratulations, you’re paying 25 percent.’”
The comments echo similar messaging from other administration officials, including White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Stephen Miran, who said Thursday that Trump may decide to extend the previously announced July 8 deadline for certain countries.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/27/bessent-trade-talks-labor-day-00429396
I thought they already had "200 deals" (even with ending talks with Canada today).
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