Howard Lutnick, US Minister of Trade, speaks on July 15, 2025 during the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit 2025 at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
David A. Grogan | CNBC
Minister of Commerce Howard Lutnick said on Sunday that August 1st was the deadline for the federal states to pay the United States, but “nothing prevents the countries from talking to us after August 1st.”
“This is a tough period. On August 1, the new collective bargaining prices will be received,” said Lutnick in CBS News when he was asked for his tariffs in the European Union.
President Donald Trump's tariff has shifted since he announced his steep taxes for trading partners on April 2, but officials from the White House now claim that August 1st is a fixed period.
“Nothing prevents the countries from talking to us after August 1st, but they will start paying the tariffs on August 1st,” said Lutnick.
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Lutnick said that some small countries, “the Latin American countries, the Caribbean countries, many countries in Africa”, would have a basic tariff of 10%.
Lutnick's comments could bring relief for the nations that are concerned with a final decision on Trump's tariff rates, which recently suggested that the basic tariffs could be over 10%for these nations.
The president announced last week that letters to smaller countries would soon be sent. “We will probably set a tariff for all of them … probably a little more than 10%,” said Trump.
Lutnick added that “the larger economies either open or America will pay a fair tariff”.
Lutnick's comments come after Trump sent letters to trading partners in the early this month, in which they were informed about the new collective bargaining prices that reached up to 40% for some nations.
In the letters published by Trump's social social social, the tariffs would come into force on August 1, which caused negotiations for trading partners at the last minute who strive for a lower price.
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