Trump says US will send out letters setting new tariff rates for hundreds of countries
By Diana Glebova
ABU DHABI — President Trump said Friday that the White House will soon be informing dozens of countries what they will be required to pay in unilateral tariffs on exports to the US — warning that negotiations are taking too long to make one-for-one agreements with every country affected by the duty regime.
“We have, at the same time, 150 countries that want to make a deal, but you’re not able to see that many countries,” Trump said at a business roundtable in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
“So at a certain point, over the next two to three weeks, I think [Treasury Secretary] Scott [Bessent] and [Commerce Secretary] Howard [Lutnick] will be sending letters out, essentially telling people –- we’ll be very fair –- but we’ll be telling people what they’ll be paying to do business in the United States.”
Trump attends a business meeting and roundtable at Qasr Al Watan, in Abu Dhabi on May 16, 2025.
Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, DC on April 2, 2025.
Trump, 78, initially announced a suite of tariffs on dozens of nations April 2, claiming he was slapping rates on countries proportional to their levies on US products.
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He then paused the tariffs for 90 days on April 9 to allow time for trade talks, but kept a baseline rate of 10% in place for all countries apart from China.
Since, the White House has announced tentative deals with the UK — leaving the 10% tariff in place and opened up Britain’s agriculture market to American products — and China, in which the US lowered its rate on Beijing to 30%, while the Chinese rate on American goods dropped to 10%.
The UK deal also exempts 100,000 British-made cars from Trump’s new 25% global auto tariff, making them subject to the 10% rate instead, and eliminates tariffs on UK airplane parts, including Rolls-Royce engines.
A container ship is moored at the port of New York & New Jersey in Elizabeth, NJ on May 12, 2025.
AP
With China, Trump said May 12 his relationship with the Communist nation is “very, very good.”
“I’ll speak with President Xi [Jinping] maybe at the end of the week,” Trump told reporters at the time, adding that “to me, the biggest thing that came out of that meeting is they’ve agreed — now we have to get it papered — but they’ve agreed to open up China.”
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The 25% tariff on cars, steel and aluminum will remain in effect on the Asian power.
Trade adviser Peter Navarro also told reporters earlier this month that US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer had his schedule booked into July with meetings with foreign countries to discuss trade, suggesting that more deals were coming down the pipeline.
White House officials said the 10% UK deal would serve as a “template” for future agreements — and that the rates for other countries will likely not dip below that rate.
The 10% rate is here to stay for the “foreseeable future,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNN’s “State of the Union” May 11.
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