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Asked if Trump is still committed to a deadline to strike trade deals by July, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that date “is not critical.”
“The president can simply provide these countries with a deal if they refuse to make us one by the deadline,” Leavitt said at a press briefing.
“And that means the president can pick a reciprocal tariff rate that he believes is advantageous for the United States and for the American worker,” she said.
She later added, “Perhaps it could be extended, but that’s a decision for the president to make.”
Trump in late May had threatened to impose 50% tariffs on the European Union. But two days later he agreed to delay that duty until July 9, after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she needed an extension to “reach a good deal.”
Trump is also coming up against the expiration of a 90-day pause on the varying “reciprocal” U.S. tariffs he imposed on nearly all other countries.
That reprieve, which lowered the near-universal tariffs to a blanket 10% rate, is set to end on July 8.
Stocks rose to session highs following Leavitt’s remarks Thursday afternoon, which were just the latest signal that Trump may not hold fast to the deadlines he previously announced.
Earlier Thursday, White House Council of Economic Advisers chairman Stephen Miran told Yahoo Finance that he expected those deadlines would be extended for countries engaged in “good faith” trade negotiations with the U.S.
In those cases, “I don’t see why [tariff] rates would snap back higher,” Miran said.
Earlier in June, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testified before the House Ways and Means Committee that it was “highly likely” that Trump would push back his July 8 deadline.
After Trump temporarily pared back his reciprocal tariffs, officials in his administration suggested it would be possible to clinch 90 trade deals in 90 days.
But with that deadline approaching, the White House has only struck trade agreements with China and the United Kingdom — and both of those have been described more as frameworks than finalized deals.
Trump aides have repeatedly signaled that the U.S. is very close to reaching a deal with India, though that trade pact has yet to materialize.
White House National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett said Tuesday on Fox Business, “We know that we’re very, very close to a few countries.”
He suggested that those deals would be announced after Congress passes the major tax-and-spending bill that comprises much of Trump’s domestic agenda. Trump has said he wants to sign that bill by July 4.
“I think you’re going to see a sequence of trade bills” starting around that date, Hassett said.
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