Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Ahead of his self-imposed deadline on reciprocal tariffs, US President Donald Trump said that 12 countries will be getting letters on July 7 onwards detailing their tariff rates. “They can take it or leave it,” Trump said about the letters. It is yet unclear which twelve countries have been finalized by the US for new reciprocal tariff rates, which will reportedly be effective from August 1. Trump’s announcement comes at a time when India and the US are in discussions to finalise a trade deal.
Indian officials, on a three week visit to Washington for trade deal talks have returned. India has also indicated that it does not believe in agreeing to trade deals based on deadlines. During his journey to New Jersey on Air Force One, Trump spoke to journalists but withheld the names of the recipient countries, stating this information would be revealed on July 7.
Initially, Trump had indicated to reporters that the first set of letters would be distributed on July 4, which was a national holiday in the United States, but this timeline was subsequently altered.
“I signed some letters and they’ll go out on July 7, probably twelve,” Trump said according to a Reuters report when questioned about his tariff strategy. He refused to go into the details and said the world would come to know about this very soon.
