TMTPOST -- U.S. President Donald Trump’s top economic advisor implied his government could levy just 10% tariffs on some trading partners through trade talks, and the tariff rate could be even lower than the baseline of the so-called reciprocal tariffs.
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Credit：Xinhua News Agency
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC that the Trump administration might announce some deals with countries as early as this week, and could lower tariffs to 10% or less for countries with “good offers” of a trade deal.
“Across all countries, we’re probably see a few more deals even this week. There’s some stuff very close to finished. 10% is a level that a lot of partners have been pushed to,” Kevin said. “I would guess if they come in with good enough offers, then they’ll stay there or perhaps even below. But if they come in with retaliation and they don’t open their markets to U.S. goods, then it’ll go the other way.”
Hassett said India is one of those countries that are “close to the finish line” in terms of trade deal, though he underlined Trump has the final call.
Trump on May 8 announced the government reached a “historic agreement” with the United Kingdom on trade, its first trade deal with the trading partner since his sweeping worldwide reciprocal tariffs were imposed last month. The baseline reciprocal tariff rate of 10%, which was announced on April 2, a date Trump proclaimed “Liberation Day”, is still in effect, according to a fact sheet from the White House. That means the Trump administration will keep in place a 10% baseline U.S. tariff on U.K. imports. Meanwhile, the U.S. agreed to cut car tariffs on the U.K. to 10% from 25%.
U.S. Secretary Scott Bessent on April 29 touted forthcoming trade deals with India, South Korea and Japan. The treasury chief told reporters that U.S. is making progress on trade deals with India, South Korea and Japan. “I think that we are very close on India,” said Bessent. Bessent on May 5 said the Trump administration is receiving “very good proposals” from other countrie and "we’re very close to some deals."
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