WASHINGTON (Reuters). — US President Donald Trump’s latest tariff delay provided some hope to major trade partners Japan, South Korea and the European Union that deals to ease duties could still be reached, while bewildering some smaller exporters such as South Africa and leaving companies with no clarity on the path forward.
Trump’s form letters to 14 countries informing them of planned tariff rates of 25 percent to 40 percent provided what he called a final warning on his “reciprocal” tariffs, while pushing back Wednesday’s previous deadline to August 1, a date he said on Tuesday was final, declaring: “No extensions will be granted.”
The move reflects Trump’s frustration with trade negotiations that are proving lengthier and more complicated than the “90 deals in 90 days” that he expected, trade experts and administration officials say.
The president, who announced on Tuesday a 50 percent tariff on imported copper and said long-threatened levies on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals were coming soon, said he has long favored simple tariffs over tedious trade talks that often involve red lines for some countries and their own requests for US concessions.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba focused on the positive, saying his government would press ahead with negotiations toward a deal that “benefits both countries, while protecting Japan’s national interest.”
Facing a 25 percent general US tariff, Japan wants relief for its export-dependent auto industry from Trump’s separate 25 percent automotive tariffs. It also has resisted demands for increased purchases of American rice.
Japan, once viewed as an early favorite for a deal, faces an upper house election on July 20 and too many concessions could put Ishiba’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party at risk.
“These countries are not folding. They’re not giving him what he wants, so he’s added another threat,” said William Reinsch, a former US Commerce Department official who is a senior trade adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “He’s put a new number to it and extended the deadline.”
South Korea, where President Lee Jae Myung has been in office less than a month, also pledged to intensify talks for “a mutually beneficial result” while analysts warned he would not be “a pushover” for Trump or put South Korea at a disadvantage to Japan.
Stephen Miran, chairman of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, told Fox News on Tuesday more deals were possible even before the end of this week, as long as countries made concessions deemed worthy by Trump.
