US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that his administration will begin sending letters to trade partners starting Friday, informing them of the tariff rates they will have to pay. These new tariffs will take effect on August 1 a Bloomberg report said.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said that about “10 or 12” letters would be sent out first, with more letters going out “over the next few days.” The new tariff rates, according to Trump, will “range in value from maybe 60 or 70% tariffs to 10 and 20% tariffs.” If the highest rates are applied, they would go beyond the levels he first proposed in April during his “Liberation Day” announcement, when he suggested tariffs from 10% up to a maximum of 50%.
Trump did not specify which countries would be affected or whether the new tariffs would apply to certain goods more than others. He added that countries would “start to pay on August 1. The money will start going to come into the United States on August 1.”
Speaking to reporters before leaving for Iowa on Thursday, Trump said that because it’s difficult to make deals with over 170 countries, the US will now send letters to 10 countries at a time. These letters will list the tariff rates, which could be between 20% and 30%, reported Reuters.
“We have more than 170 countries, and how many deals can you make?” Trump said. “They’re very much more complicated.”
Trump also said that he expects to make a few more detailed trade deals with other countries after announcing one with Vietnam on Wednesday. The deal says that US tariffs on many Vietnamese goods would be reduced to 20%, down from the earlier proposed 46%. In return, many US products will enter Vietnam without any import tax.
But for most countries, he said he would rather simply tell them what tariff rate they will face, instead of going through long talks. His comments underscore the challenges of how hard it is to fnialise trade deals, especially when they involve not just tariffs but also other issues like bans on certain farm products.
Back in April, Trump’s top advisers had said they would try to make 90 trade deals in 90 days. But many trade experts had doubted this then also, as such deals usually take a lot of time and effort.
Many countries to likely get 10% tariff rate
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Bloomberg Television that around 100 countries will likely be given a 10% tariff rate in return for similar treatment of US goods. He also predicted a “flurry” of trade deals before the July 9 deadline, when tariffs could go up sharply.
Originally, a list of 123 jurisdictions was set to receive a 10% rate. These included small countries and even some remote areas like Australia’s uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands. If 10% tariff rates are announced on 100 countries , then the number is lower than what the Trump administration planned initially.
Tariff talks still ongoing for major economies
Trump had on April 2, 2025, shocked markets by announcing broad tariff rates between 10% and 50%. However, most countries were temporarily given a 10% rate to allow time for trade talks until July 9.
While some countries, like Britain, have already reached deals, securing a 10% rate and special treatment for sectors like cars and aircraft parts, many others haven’t even started talks.
Major trading partners such as the European Union, India, and Japan are now in discussions but are currently facing much higher rates – 20% for the EU, 26% for India, and 24% for Japan. Countries that haven’t spoken to the Trump administration at all are seeing even steeper tariffs like 50% for Lesotho, 47% for Madagascar, and 36% for Thailand.