• US president says he does not expect to reach a broader deal with Japan

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the U.S. will probably “live by the letter” on tariffs with Japan and may have another trade deal coming up with India, following his announcement of an accord with Indonesia on Tuesday.

“We have some pretty good deals to announce,” Trump told reporters at the start of a meeting with Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa at the White House. He said he would also discuss trade issues with the Bahraini leader.

“The big one really is going to be on the 150 countries that we’re really not negotiating with, and they’re smaller — we don’t do much business with.”

On July 7, Trump announced 25% tariffs on imports from Japan and South Korea, effective August 1. He also announced separate rates for a number of other countries. On Tuesday, he said letters would be going out soon to dozens of smaller countries notifying them their goods would face a tariff rate of over 10%.

He said those smaller countries would receive a “notice of payment” with a uniform tariff rates for the whole group.

The deal with Indonesia is among the handful struck so far by the Trump administration ahead of an August 1 deadline when duties on most U.S. imports are due to rise again. The European Union and Canada, meanwhile, are readying countermeasures if their talks with the U.S. fail to produce a deal.

Trump has said he does not expect to reach a broader deal with Japan.

Trump’s trade moves have upended decades of negotiated reductions in global trade barriers. They have unsettled international financial markets and stoked worries about a new wave of inflation.

Kevin Hassett, Trump’s top economic adviser, told Fox News that “a whole bunch” of additional trade deals would be announced very soon, but gave no details.

He said Trump’s strict August 1 deadline had spurred a flurry of new activity, including talks with countries that had not previously been in touch.

Jamieson Greer, Trump’s top trade negotiator, told business executives in Detroit, that he was focused on shrinking the $1.2 trillion U.S. trade deficit and stemming the loss of U.S. advanced manufacturing capacity.

Trump’s tariff policies called for a universal tariff rate of 10% on all countries, with higher rates for the most “problematic” ones, including China, which has the highest tariff rate of 55%, Greer said, adding the president was willing to negotiate if countries want to invest.

Reuters