Weekend: Bessent threatens tariff rates to return to ‘reciprocal’ levels if no trade deal
US Treasury Secretary Bessent spoke with CNN on Sunday.
He was forthright with his threat to foreign countries that Trump's tariff will jump back a “reciprocal” level if trade deals are not reached with the US:
- "Trump has put them on notice that if you do not negotiate in good faith, you will ratchet back up to your April 2 level”
- Bessent touted that there are incoming deals with 18 "important" trading partners but didn't indicate a timeline for these
--
You'll recall Trump's tariffs were greeted with shock, with rates up to 30%, 40%, 50%, depending on country
- were scheduled to take effect on April 9
- after markets collapsed Trump was forced into a backdown, pausing tariffs for 90 days to allow negotiations
more to come
