Trump Team Races to Cut Tariff Deals With More Than 70 Nations

The Trump administration has embarked on a high-speed effort to negotiate ad hoc deals with more than 70 countries hoping to escape higher tariffs, with any agreements likely to fall short of the kind of fully-fledged trade pacts that traditionally shape global trade.

- Gavin Bade

People with knowledge of the discussions say that many of the offers President Trump is touting are preliminary calls or offers from other nations to negotiate, not fleshed-out economic proposals. While the administration has issued broad requirements for the countries coming to the table—such as reducing their tariffs and buying more American goods—the White House was still devising its negotiation strategy Thursday, as the countdown to the July 8 deadline began.

Traditional free-trade agreements typically take several years to negotiate. Narrower deals covering specific industries that Trump reached with nations such as China, Japan and Korea in his first term took several months. The White House now needs to speed-run negotiations much faster and with dozens of nations at the same time—something that is worrying lawmakers on Capitol Hill who are eager to see deals reached that can avoid the tariff-induced stock selloff of the past week.

The deals aren't likely to be fully developed free-trade agreements, which typically need to be passed by Congress. Instead, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R., Tenn.), Trump's first-term ambassador to Japan, said the administration might settle for written commitments from foreign governments to make certain economic reforms, akin to a term sheet that precedes an investment or business deal.

That perspective was backed up by a foreign-government official in contact with the U.S. After those preliminary deals are reached, administration officials can work out which, if any, of the agreements they will bring before Congress.