Trump delayed reciprocal tariffs after Bessent wanted more time

The US Treasury Secretary felt progress was made with EU countries and India, and told Trump he could get trade deals with more time.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks to reporters. Picture; Getty Images via AFP.

US President Donald Trump decided to delay the implementation of his so-called reciprocal tariffs to August 1 after advisers including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told him he could get trade deals with more time, according to sources.

Administration officials including Bessent felt as if they were making progress on deals with several trading partners such as India and the European Union as Trump’s previous deadline approached.

An initial pause on the reciprocal tariffs was set to lapse at 12.01am on Wednesday until Trump on Monday further postponed the implementation date for three weeks and sent out letters warning countries of the rates they would face on that day.

The weekend before his Monday announcement, Trump reportedly deliberated in phone calls and private conversations with allies from his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Trump was weighing whether he should give a new August deadline or send out letters without a date and simply a declaration of new tariff rates.

Trump had mused publicly about moving away from notching agreements to avert tariffs.

His inclination to let the tariffs snap into effect shifted after he heard from Bessent that some deals were close but needed more time.

Bessent was a key aide who successfully convinced Trump to place the initial 90-day pause on his April “Liberation Day” tariffs that rattled global markets.

Donald Trump with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (L), Interior Secretary Doug Burgum (3rd L) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (C) after Trump signed the "Big Beautiful Bill Act" at the White House. Picture; AFP.

White House spokesman Kush Desai said the US was receiving heavy interest to lower tariffs, but Trump “has been clear: the United States, the world’s biggest and best consumer market, holds the cards and leverage in negotiations to unilaterally set deals with appropriate tariff rates for our trading partners”.

In his phone calls, Trump told aides and allies he was frustrated with the lack of progress being made with countries, blaming those nations for not coming to the table with offers that, in his view, were good enough for the US.

Trump argued privately he was riding a wave of momentum from his signing of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and his bombing of Iran, and wanted to ride those perceived wins to victories on trade policy.

In the end, Trump decided to send out the letters along with the delay as a negotiating tactic to eke out last-minute concessions from trading partners, the sources said.

On Tuesday he said more letters were expected, adding that he was about two days from sending a letter to the EU.

US and EU officials are still in close contact.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick later said on CNBC that 15 to 20 new tariff letters to world leaders could be expected to be posted online in the next two days.

Trump, long a vocal advocate of the use of tariffs, said he was eager to place tariffs on a wave of countries, despite his new executive order.

“TARIFFS WILL START BEING PAID ON AUGUST 1, 2025. There has been no change to this date, and there will be no change,” he wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday (local time).

During a cabinet meeting, he asserted that his letters to other nations constituted a pact on bilateral commerce.

“A letter means a deal,” he said, while noting that his team continued to negotiate with other nations.

Trump on Tuesday also previewed other tariffs imposed under a separate legal authority, saying he would impose 50 per cent tariffs on copper and up to 200 per cent tariffs on pharmaceuticals citing national-security concerns.

Companies would be given up to a year and a half to relocate pharmaceutical supply chains before levies would take effect.

Lutnick later said the copper announcement would be posted on Tuesday, and that reports outlining the tariff levels for semiconductors and pharmaceuticals would be unveiled by August 1.

Trump also played down the prospects of every country getting a deal to avoid his steep reciprocal tariffs.

“We got 200 countries. We can’t meet with 200 countries,” he said during the meeting.

The reciprocal tariffs are targeting countries the White House deems bad actors on trade.

They face a steeper rate in lieu of the 10 per cent global baseline tariffs Trump has already imposed across nearly all US imports.

The reciprocal duties in many instances do not match the duties imposed on US exports.

The White House said the reciprocal tariff rates, or 10 per cent baseline tariff for applicable nations, would not apply to products hit by sector-specific tariffs such as copper or aluminium.

Practically, it would have been difficult for Customs and Border Protection to update thousands of product codes in the Harmonised Tariff Schedule for each nation subject to a reciprocal tariff by the Wednesday deadline, particularly after Trump altered some of those tariffs with deals or letters that assigned new duty rates, said Wilbur Ross, Trump’s first-term commerce secretary.

“It takes (CBP) a while to implement tariffs,” Ross said, citing the many codes that would have needed updating on July 9.

A CBP spokesman called that assertion false and said the agency had “been on track to implement throughout, and remains ready to do so for any orders from the President”. Countries that were sent letters could still negotiate lower rates if they dramatically reduce their tariffs and regulations on US goods, Lutnick said.

“Even when he sends a letter, you’ve seen in the letter that he says, if you change the way you treat America, we will listen and we will think about it,” Lutnick said.

In recent weeks, the US Trade Representative’s office has circulated term sheets laying out US demands for trade talks with about two dozen nations, it is understood.

Those documents are similar to proposed provisions for an “agreement on reciprocal trade” with the EU that The Wall Street Journal reported last month.

“There’s nothing like a deadline to get someone to come to the table,” Ross said of the letters Trump sent this week.

Dow Jones