President Donald Trump said he expected to wrap up trade deals with US partners looking for lower tariffs soon.
"I would say, over the next three to four weeks, and we're finished, by the way," Trump said of the deals in an interview with TIME magazine published Friday. "I'll be finished. Now, some countries may come back and ask for an adjustment, and I'll consider that, but I'll basically be-with great knowledge, setting-ready."
Trump told reporters later Friday at the White House that he is "getting along very well with Japan" and an agreement is "very close." In an interview Trump defended his trade policies which have unnerved financial markets and sent foreign governments racing to Washington to cut deals.
Conflicting signals
But the US President gave conflicting signals about the status of talks with China, even as Beijing has denied that negotiations between the world's two largest economies are taking place. Trump said, "We're meeting with China. We're doing fine with everybody."
Trump earlier this month announced sharp tariff increases on about 60 countries but then quickly paused those measures for three months to allow trading partners to negotiate deals, keeping in place a baseline 10% rate during the negotiating period. That set off a flurry of visits from foreign delegations eager to strike a deal, but Xi's government has taken a more defiant stance.
Trump in the interview also pushed back on reports that treasury secretary Scott Bessent and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick convinced him to delay his reciprocal tariffs and said he "wasn't worried" about the turmoil in bond and equity markets that greeted his higher duties.
"They didn't tell me. I did that," Trump said. "The bond market was getting the yips, but I wasn't."
On Ukraine joining NATO
The President also reiterating his administration's stance that Kyiv relinquish its hopes of joining the military alliance.
"I don't think they'll ever be able to join NATO," Trump told TIME magazine, blaming Ukraine's aspirations for Russia's invasion which was launched in 2022.
"I think that's been - from day one, I think that's been, that's I think what caused the war to start was when they started talking about joining NATO. If that weren't brought up, there would have been a much better chance that it wouldn't have started," Trump said. Bloomberg
"I would say, over the next three to four weeks, and we're finished, by the way," Trump said of the deals in an interview with TIME magazine published Friday. "I'll be finished. Now, some countries may come back and ask for an adjustment, and I'll consider that, but I'll basically be-with great knowledge, setting-ready."
Trump told reporters later Friday at the White House that he is "getting along very well with Japan" and an agreement is "very close." In an interview Trump defended his trade policies which have unnerved financial markets and sent foreign governments racing to Washington to cut deals.
Conflicting signals
But the US President gave conflicting signals about the status of talks with China, even as Beijing has denied that negotiations between the world's two largest economies are taking place. Trump said, "We're meeting with China. We're doing fine with everybody."
Trump earlier this month announced sharp tariff increases on about 60 countries but then quickly paused those measures for three months to allow trading partners to negotiate deals, keeping in place a baseline 10% rate during the negotiating period. That set off a flurry of visits from foreign delegations eager to strike a deal, but Xi's government has taken a more defiant stance.
Trump in the interview also pushed back on reports that treasury secretary Scott Bessent and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick convinced him to delay his reciprocal tariffs and said he "wasn't worried" about the turmoil in bond and equity markets that greeted his higher duties.
"They didn't tell me. I did that," Trump said. "The bond market was getting the yips, but I wasn't."
On Ukraine joining NATO
The President also reiterating his administration's stance that Kyiv relinquish its hopes of joining the military alliance.
"I don't think they'll ever be able to join NATO," Trump told TIME magazine, blaming Ukraine's aspirations for Russia's invasion which was launched in 2022.
"I think that's been - from day one, I think that's been, that's I think what caused the war to start was when they started talking about joining NATO. If that weren't brought up, there would have been a much better chance that it wouldn't have started," Trump said. Bloomberg
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