Government rules out postponing new tariffs on Aug. 1
"No extensions, no more grace periods. Aug. 1, the tariffs are set; they’ll go into place. Customs will start collecting the money, and off we go," said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Trump and Lutnick in the Oval Office/ Andrew Caballero- Reynolds.
The Aug. 1 deadline set by the Donald Trump administration for the imposition of new tariffs on its trading partners stands. This was stated on Sunday by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
"No extensions, no more grace periods. Aug. 1, the tariffs are set; they’ll go into place. Customs will start collecting the money, and off we go," Lutnick told Fox News.
Lutnick explained that even if tariffs go into effect, President Donald Trump will leave the doors open to reach deals with his partners.
On the European Union, with whom Trump is negotiating this Sunday in Scotland, the commerce secretary said, "We set the table. The team sets the table. But Donald Trump does his negotiations by himself."
Only five countries, AFP recalled, have reached trade agreements with the Trump administration: the UK., Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan.
The tariffs agreed by these countries exceed the 10% rate that the United States has applied since April to the vast majority of countries, but are still well below the levels Trump threatened if the governments did not reach an agreement with Washington that would put an end to what the president considers unfair practices.
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