Donald Trump eyes tariff rate of 10% or 15% for more than 150 countries

Trump said he would send letters to more than 150 countries notifying them their tariff rates could be 10% or 15% as he forges ahead with his trade agenda.

President Donald Trump said he would send letters to more than 150 countries notifying them their tariff rates could be 10% or 15% as he forges ahead with his trade agenda.

Donald Trump walks down the stairs of Air Force One upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Tuesday, July 15 (AP)

“We’ll have well over 150 countries that we’re just going to send a notice of payment out, and the notice of payment is going to say what the tariff” rate will be, Trump told reporters on Wednesday at the White House.

“It’s all going to be the same for everyone, for that group,” Trump added, saying that the trading partners that would receive those letters were “not big countries, and they don’t do that much business.”

In an interview with Real America’s Voice broadcast later on Wednesday, Trump said the rate would “be probably 10 or 15%, we haven’t decided yet.”

Trump in recent days has unleashed a barrage of tariff demands, informing other economies of new duties that will kick in on Aug. 1 if they cannot negotiate better terms with the US. The letters extended what was initially a July 9 deadline for another three weeks, setting off a frantic dash for trading partners looking to avoid higher levies.

“For much of the world — and Asia in particular, which faces among the highest levies — the rate announcement could be read as a positive, providing some certainty for smaller countries with a lower rate than initially threatened,” said Alicia Garcia Herrero, chief Asia Pacific economist at Natixis. The rate also signals “Trump is realizing that too high tariffs are disruptive,” she said.

While Trump and his advisers initially expressed hopes of securing multiple deals, the president has been touting the tariff letters themselves as “deals” and suggesting that he is uninterested in back-and-forth negotiations. Still, he has left the door open for countries to make agreements that could lower those rates.

The rates imposed so far are largely similar to those Trump threatened in April and then quickly paused after market volatility, but the letters have injected further uncertainty into financial markets and surprised partners such as the European Union, which had been hoping to conclude tentative deals with the US.

“We could make a deal possibly with Europe. You know, it’s, I’m very indifferent to it,” Trump said in the Real America’s Voice interview, suggesting he saw the letter he sent the EU as a deal.

Asked in the interview what he believed would happen with Canada, which is facing a 35% tariff on some goods in August, the president said it was “too soon to say.”