Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday that President Trump would not grant any further extensions to countries wishing to negotiate trade deals ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline.
“No extensions, no more grace periods. Aug. 1, the tariffs are set,” Lutnick said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
“They’ll go into place, customs will start collecting the money, and off we go,” Lutnick continued.
Lutnick added, however, that the president would be open to continuing to negotiate even once the tariffs are in place.
“Obviously after Aug. 1, people can still talk to President Trump,” Lutnick said. “I mean, he’s always willing to listen.”
The president will also continue to talk to other countries before the Aug. 1 deadline, Lutnick added.
“Whether they can make him happy is another question,” Lutnick said. “But the president’s definitely willing to negotiate and talk to the big economies for sure.”
The interview came shortly before Trump announced a trade deal with the European Union, setting tariffs at 15 percent for European goods, including automobiles.
The EU agreed to purchase $750 billion worth of energy from the U.S. as part of the deal, Trump announced on Sunday, and to invest in the U.S. $600 billion more than the current investments for other goods.
The agreement is lower than the 30 percent tariff Trump had threatened to impose on the EU, which was set to take effect on Aug. 1, and avoids a trade war with the U.S.’s largest trading partner.
Trump earlier this month posted letters to social media sent to more than a dozen countries vowing to impose steep tariffs on their imports starting Aug. 1.
An initial round of tariffs unveiled in April was paused for 90 days to allow time for negotiations, and the president then pushed the deadline for the tariffs to take effect back by another few weeks — to Aug. 1.
