President Donald Trump said he does not intend to stop tariffs on most countries after July 9 for 90 days, when the negotiation period he sets will expire and his administration will notify countries that trade penalties will take effect unless a deal is reached with the United States.
He said the letters will start “soon” by the upcoming deadline.
Trump recorded the tapes on Friday and Sunday radio broadcast Sunday, saying: “We're going to look at how a country treats us – whether they're good, they're good – we don't care, we don't care.”
He said the letters would say, “Congratulations, we allow you to shop in the United States of America and you will pay a 25% tariff, or 35% or 50% or 10% fee.”
Trump put forward a deadline at a White House press conference on Friday and pointed out how difficult it is to reach a separate deal with each country. The government sets a goal of reaching 90 deals in 90 days.
Negotiations are still going on, but “there are 200 countries that you can’t talk to all of them,” he said in an interview.
Trump also discussed the potential Tiktok deal, relations with China, strikes on Iran and its migrant suppression.
Here are the key points:
Some details about the Tiktok deal
Trump said a group of wealthy investors would make a proposal to buy Tiktok, suggesting a deal that could protect the future of popular social media platforms owned by Chinese factions.
“By the way, we have a Tiktok buyer. I think I might need China's approval, and I think President Xi Jinping may do that,” Trump said.
Trump did not provide any details about investors, calling them “a very wealthy group.”
“I’ll tell you in about two weeks,” he said when asked about the details.
This is a time frame that Trump often quoted, most recently a decision on whether the U.S. military would be directly involved in the war between Israel and Iran. A few days later, the United States attacked Iran's nuclear site.
Get the daily national news
Get news, politics, economics and current events titles delivered to your inbox every day.
Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order to allow Tiktok to run in the U.S. for 90 days to give his administration more time to trade to put social media platforms under U.S. ownership.
This is the third time Trump has extended the deadline. The first was to pass an executive order, January 20, his first day in the office, when the platform briefly turned black, when a national injunction, approved by Congress and maintained by the Supreme Court, came into effect.
Trump insists that we “destroy” Iran's nuclear facilities
Trump insisted that the U.S. strike against Iran “destroying” its nuclear facilities, and he said those who leaked preliminary intelligence assessments suggest Tehran's nuclear program should be prosecuted in just a few months.
Trump said Iran was “a few weeks” before ordering a strike.
“It's been eliminated like no one has seen before,” Trump said. “It means ending their nuclear ambitions for at least some time.”
Iran's top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on X on Sunday that Trump “exaggerated the cover-up and cover-up the truth.” Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani told CBS “Faced the State” that his country’s nuclear program is peaceful and that uranium “enrichment is our right and an inalienable right, and we want to implement this right”, a treaty on nuclear weapons that are not core. “I don’t think richness will-never stop.”
“It's obvious that the damage is serious, but it's not total damage,” said Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, on CBS.
Grossi also said the UN nuclear watchdog was under pressure to report that Iran had or was close to nuclear weapons, but “we just didn’t because it wasn’t what we saw.”
In the leak of the intelligence assessment, Trump said anyone who finds responsible should be prosecuted. He said the reporters who received it should be asked who was their source: “You have to do this, and I doubt we will do something like this.”
His press secretary said Thursday that the government is investigating the matter.
“Temporary Pass” for Immigrant Attacks on Farms and Hotels?
Trump offers a more nuanced view on farm and hotel staff as he plays out on immigration crackdowns.
“I am the most powerful immigrant figure ever, but I am the most powerful farmer ever,” the Republican president said.
He pointed out that he wanted to expel criminals, but that was a problem when farmers lost their workers and destroyed their business.
Trump said his administration is working on “some kind of temporary pass” that could put farmers and hotel owners in control of immigration attacks on their facilities.
Earlier this month, Trump called for an end to immigration raids that undermined the agriculture, hotel and restaurant industries, but the top homeland security officials followed up with seemingly contradictory statements. Tricia McLaughlin said there is no safe space for industries that have violent criminals or intentionally destroy violent criminals” immigration enforcement efforts.
The status of China's trade negotiations
Trump praised a recent trade agreement with Beijing, rather than China's rare earth exports, and said that building a more fair relationship would require a lot of tariffs.
“I think getting along well with China is a very good thing,” Trump said. “China is going to pay a lot of tariffs, but we have a big (trade) deficit and they understand that.”
Trump said he would be willing to lift sanctions on Iran's oil transport if Iran can show that “it can be peaceful and can show us that they will not cause any more harm.”
But the president also said that the United States is not afraid of retaliation against Beijing. When Fox News host Maria Bartiromo pointed out that China was trying to crack the U.S. system and steal intellectual property, Trump replied: “Don't you think we did this to them?”
