Trump says US to start notifying trade partners of tariffs as high as 70%

President Trump said his administration will begin notifying several of its trading partners of unilateral tariffs as high as 70%, escalating trade tensions as markets closed for the July 4 holiday.

“We’re going to start sending letters out to various countries starting tomorrow,” Trump told reporters late Thursday.

“We’ll probably have 10 or 12 go out tomorrow, and over the next few days, I think by the 9th, they’ll be fully covered. And they’ll range in value from maybe 60 or 70% tariffs to 10 and 20% tariffs.”

The president added that the tariffs would take effect Aug. 1.

The administration’s 90-day pause on the stiff “reciprocal” tariffs unveiled in April expires Wednesday.

The White House has said Wednesday’s deadline is a self-imposed target to finalize notification of the new rates.

Most trading partners, except for China, currently face a universal 10% levy.

The upper end of the range Trump outlined — 70% — would exceed all of the reciprocal tariffs he had floated previously, with the exception of those targeting China.

The next-highest previously discussed rate was 50%.

The president’s remarks suggest the administration is leaving space for further negotiations with major trading partners like the European Union, Japan and South Korea.

“That’s the most interesting takeaway because it would basically mean that he would leave more room for negotiations,” Inga Fechner, economist at ING, told the Wall Street Journal.

Fechner also noted that large trading partners would likely retaliate if the tariffs are implemented next week.

European Union negotiators have failed so far to achieve a breakthrough in trade negotiations with the Trump administration and may now seek to extend the status quo to avoid tariff hikes, six EU diplomats briefed on the talks said on Friday.

The EU had already dropped hopes of locking in a comprehensive trade agreement ahead of Trump’s July 9 deadline, but following talks in Washington it was not clear if it would even secure a lighter agreement in principle.

The Commission told EU envoys on Friday afternoon that it believed the United States was willing to “pause” the current tariffs in place for partners with which it reached an initial agreement, with possible tariff relief later.

Without a preliminary agreement, broad US tariffs on most imports would rise from their current 10% to the rate set out by President Donald Trump on April 2. In the EU’s case that would be 20%.

The Commission said that at one point the United States had mooted a 17% tariff on EU agri-food imports, the sources said.

Two of the EU diplomats who spoke to Reuters said the Commission appeared to be pushing more for the first option, to extend the status quo, and then seek to negotiate further.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that negotiations were set to continue into the weekend.

“Progress was made towards an agreement in principle during the latest round of negotiations which took place this week,” a European Commission spokesperson said.

“Having discussed the state of play with our member states, the Commission will now re-engage with the US on substance over the weekend.”

The EU currently faces 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum exports to the United States, 25% tariffs on cars and car parts and a 10% levy on most other products.

Trump said a few trade agreements are already in place, including deals with the UK and Vietnam, as well as an ongoing truce with China.

“We have a couple of other deals, but you know, my inclination is to send a letter out and say what tariffs they are going to be paying,” Trump said when asked about other pending agreements.

Bessent said last week the administration hopes to finalize trade agreements with 18 key trading partners by Labor Day.

A recent round of talks in London between US and Chinese officials has revived a fragile truce between the two countries. Beijing is now reviewing and approving applications for exports of controlled items to the US.

In one shift, the Trump administration has permitted a GE Aerospace joint venture to resume engine deliveries to Chinese planemaker Comac, ending a ban that had been in place since May.

Meanwhile, China has halted Boeing jet deliveries to its own airlines.

Despite progress with some countries, talks with Japan and South Korea appear to have stalled. These were previously identified by the administration as priorities.

In Asia, traders remained focused on the potential fallout of the US tariffs, particularly in export-heavy economies like Japan and South Korea.

“Investors are now just waiting for July 9,” said Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG. He added that the lack of optimism around trade negotiations contributed to weakness in Asian equity markets.

The US dollar, which had its worst first-half performance since 1973 amid confusion surrounding the tariff rollout, rallied 0.4% Thursday before giving up some gains on Friday.

In Washington, the House narrowly passed Trump’s 869-page economic bill Thursday evening. The legislation averts a government default and authorizes major new spending on border security and military operations, but it also adds trillions to the national debt.

Still, US investors were buoyed by stronger-than-expected job numbers.

All three major equity indexes rose in Thursday’s shortened session.

“The US economy is holding together better than most people expected, which suggests to me that markets can easily continue to do better [from here],” Sycamore said.