Trump Trade Team Extends Deadline on Tariff Deals

As President Donald Trump’s trade team works to sign new trade deals with foreign countries, the White House is giving trading partners an extended deadline to sign deals before being hit with the heavy tariffs the president introduced in April.

The administration had previously set a deadline of June 9 for nations to come to an agreement to avoid the temporarily paused “liberation day” tariff levels. Now, that date is being shifted to Aug. 1.

Asked on “Fox News Sunday” about the new deadline, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledged some headwinds in negotiations, but defended the extension as part of Trump’s “art of the deal.”

“I think what’s happened is, there’s a lot of congestion going into the homestretch and, as a part of the trade team, what’s great about having President Trump on our side is, he’s created maximum leverage,” Bessent said.

He added, “By telling our trading partners that they could boomerang back to the April 2nd date [tariff levels], I think it’s really going to move things along over the next couple of days and weeks.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (Al Drago/Getty Images)

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was bombarded with questions about the extension Monday and told reporters that the White House was simply trying to deliver the best deals possible.

“The president and his trade team want to cut the best deals for the American people and the American worker,” she told reporters as she announced a presidential executive order extending the deadline.

She added that Trump “should be commended for the time and the effort that he is putting into this” and that his progress with China, Vietnam, and the United Kingdom is “a testament to this president and his trade team who are working around the clock to get this done.”

Trump’s aggressive trade policy initially caused worries within the Republican Party, with conservative senators, such as Ted Cruz of Texas, John Kennedy of Louisiana, and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin all expressing concerns early on.

Those fears were exacerbated when stock market indexes took a nosedive after the “liberation day” tariff rollout.

However, since then, the S&P 500 rallied to an all-time high in late June, erasing the post-“liberation day” losses. 

Tariffs have also not had the dramatic effect on prices many had predicted, as consumer prices rose by just 0.1% in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

However, the U.S. dollar has weakened since the beginning of the year relative to foreign currencies, according to multiple indexes, a trend that preceded the April tariffs rollout.

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