The top White House economic adviser said Sunday that President Trump is threatening to slap tariffs on some of the nation’s biggest allies because he is not happy with the direction of ongoing trade talks.
Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said Mr. Trump is using the threat of enacting a 30% tariff on Aug. 1 to pressure countries to make more concessions and agree to more U.S.-friendly deals.
“The bottom line is he has seen some sketches of deals that have been negotiated with [Commerce Secretary] Howard Lutnick and the rest of the trade team, and the president thinks the deals need to be better and basically to put a line in the sand he sent a letter out to these folks,” Mr. Hassett said on ABC’s “This Week.”
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, Mr. Trump said he was issuing letters to Mexico and the European Union — America’s biggest trading partner and the world’s largest trading bloc — announcing the 30% tariffs on their imports were on deck.
The letter also calls for Europe to drop its tariffs on American goods and says that any retaliatory tariff put on the U.S. will be added on top of the 30%.
Mr. Trump also announced late last week he planned to impose a 35% tariff on Canadian imports effective Aug.1, frustrating the nation’s prime minister.
The European Union on Sunday offered an olive branch, announcing it would suspend the retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods that were slated to kick off Monday in hopes of striking a trade deal with the Trump administration by the end of the month.
″This is now the time for negotiations,″ European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels on Sunday.
Ms. Von der Leyen said those countermeasures would be delayed until Aug. 1, and that Trump’s letter shows ″that we have until the first of August″ to negotiate.
″We have always been clear that we prefer a negotiated solution,″ she said. If they can’t reach a deal, she said that ″we will continue to prepare countermeasures so we are fully prepared.″
Mr. Trump has made tariffs a central part of his agenda. He says that reshaping global trade deals will help usher in a new Golden Age in the United States. He says they will persuade companies to return to America or keep their operations in the U.S., employ American workers and create revenue to fund domestic programs.
Mr. Trump last week also announced he was setting a levy of 50% on Brazil; 30% on Algeria, Libya, Sri Lanka and Iraq; 25% on products from Brunei and Moldova; and 20% on goods imported from the Philippines.
The tariff on Brazil has raised eyebrows because the United States has a trade surplus with the South American country.
Mr. Trump said that the Brazil tariff is driven in part by the country’s prosecution of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on allegations the ex-leader plotted to overturn his 2022 election loss.
In his letter to the European Union, Mr. Trump said: “We have had years to discuss our Trading Relationship with The European Union, and we have concluded we must move away from these long-term, large, and persistent, Trade Deficits, engendered by your Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies, and Trade Barriers.”
“Our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from Reciprocal,” Mr. Trump said.
In the letter to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Mr. Trump cited the flow of fentanyl over the border.
“Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough. Mexico still has not stopped the Cartels who are trying to turn all of North America into a Narco-Trafficking Playground,” he wrote.
On Sunday, Mr. Hassett said Mr. Trump has proven throughout his business career that his negotiating skills should not be underestimated.
“These tariffs are real if the president doesn’t get a deal that is good enough,” he said. “But conversations are ongoing, and we will see where the dust settles.”
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
