Trump deals poised to fall short of sweeping trade reforms

WITH JUST 10 days to go until President Donald J. Trump's country-specific tariffs are set to resume, the White House appears poised to fall short of the sweeping global trade reforms it promised to achieve during the three months they were on hold.

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Agreements with as many as a dozen of the US's largest trading partners are expected to be completed by the July 9 deadline, top Trump advisers have said over the past week. But if Mr. Trump's only two other accords, with China and the UK, offer any indication, the pacts likely won't be fulsome deals that resolve core issues, but instead will address a limited set of topics and leave many specifics to be negotiated later.

"I would expect the White House will announce some number of frameworks that it's going to call trade deals, but do not meet anyone's ordinary understanding of that term," said Tim Meyer, a professor at Duke University law school who specializes in international trade.

For dozens of other countries that don't reach deals but were hit by Mr. Trump's higher tariff on April 2 the president has threatened to impose new duties above the 10% baseline that has been in place during the negotiating period. Those would mostly be "smaller trading partners," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday on CNBC.

Mr. Trump and his advisers have left investors on edge ahead of July 9, offering cryptic signals about which countries were close to agreements and which were off track. The outcome will help determine the future of Mr. Trump's trade agenda one of the centerpieces of his 2024 campaign with high stakes for the global economy and America's relationships with allies and adversaries alike.

Even with those high stakes, it was still unclear whether the administration would hold firm on the deadline or extend it to allow more time for talks.

Mr. Bessent on Friday said about 20 countries that don't reach deals by next Wednesday could continue negotiating but would see their tariff rates reverted to the higher April 2 rate or stay at 10% if they are deemed to be "negotiating in good faith."