Trump Dismisses Extension of Tariff Deadline, Teases Japan

President Again Says He Is Sticking With July 9 Date: 'I鈥檒l Be Writing Letters to A Lot of Countries'

Containerships in Japan
Containerships at the Yokkaichi Port in Yokkaichi, Japan. (Buddhika Weerasinghe/Bloomberg)

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President Donald Trump said he is not considering delaying his July 9 deadline for higher tariffs to resume and renewed his threat to cut off talks and impose duty rates on several nations, including Japan.

鈥淣o, I鈥檓 not thinking about the pause,鈥 Trump said July 1 when asked by a reporter aboard Air Force One about whether he would extend the negotiating period with trading partners. 鈥淚鈥檒l be writing letters to a lot of countries.鈥

U.S. stocks pulled back after Trump鈥檚 comments. Investors are closely watching how the president decides to handle the current pause on his April 2 tariffs, which he put on hold for 90 days to allow time for talks.

The president deepened his criticism of Tokyo for not accepting U.S. rice exports and said that auto trade between the two nations is imbalanced. He said he would force Japan to 鈥減ay 30%, 35% or whatever the number is that we determine, because we also have a very big trade deficit with Japan.鈥



鈥淚鈥檓 not sure we鈥檙e going to make a deal. I doubt it with Japan; they鈥檙e very tough. You have to understand, they鈥檙e very spoiled,鈥 Trump said.

The president sounded more optimistic about reaching an agreement with India. When asked about the prospects for an agreement over the next week, Trump said, 鈥淧ossibly. That鈥檚 going to be a different kind of a deal. It鈥檚 going to be a deal where we鈥檙e able to go in and compete. Right now, India doesn鈥檛 accept anybody in. I think India is going to do that, and if they do that, we鈥檙e going to have a deal for much less tariffs.鈥

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