As the July 9 tariff deadline approaches, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signals intensified trade negotiations under President Trump’s administration, raising concerns over renewed tariff hikes of up to 70 percent, potential inflationary pressures, and the broader impact on global financial markets, trade flows, and Southeast Asian manufacturing economies that are already absorbing cost pressures within their profit margins amid a volatile geopolitical and economic landscape.
00:00The U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday, July 6, said some trade deals had been made with trading partners and also letters would go out to other countries, notifying them on higher tariff rates.
00:12Commerce Secretary Howard Ludnick told reporters that the higher tariffs would take effect on August 1, but Trump was setting the rates and also the deals right now.
00:22U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson on Sunday predicted a looming July 9 tariff deadline is really going to move things along the next couple of days toward tariff deals with U.S. allies.
00:35Since taking office, Trump has set off a global trade war that has appended financial markets and also sent policymakers scrambling to guard their economies and also including through deals with the U.S. and other countries.
00:52Trump on April 2 announced a 10% base tariff rate and additional amounts for most countries, some raging as high as 50%.
01:00The news rolled financial markets, prompting the U.S. President to suspend all but the 10% base rate for 90 days until July 9 to allow more time for negotiations to secure deals, but the process has proven more challenging than expected.
01:14I don't think it's a bit of a problem, because I think what's happened is there's a lot of congestion going into the home stretch.
01:22And as part of the trade team, what's great about having President Trump on side is he's created maximum leverage.
01:29So by telling our trading partners that they could boomerang back to the April 2 date, I think it's really going to move things along the next couple of days and weeks.
01:38The empirical data shows that we have seen no inflation thus far, and we'll see over the coming months.
01:47And there's a big difference in inflation and a one-time price adjustment also.
01:52Inflation is a generalized monetary phenomenon.
01:55We're not going to see that.
01:56And thus far, we haven't even seen the one-time price adjustment.
02:00What we are seeing, the business model for many of our trading partners, especially in Southeast Asia, is to produce, produce, produce.
02:08And the manufacturers in those countries are taking the price increases into, or the tariffs, into their margins.
02:20Besson denied that August 1 was a new deadline for negotiations, telling Fox News Sunday.
02:25Trump on Friday said countries not offering concessions could see their tariff rates spike up to 70% but offered no details.
02:33At the same time, Besson said he does not think Trump announcing an early nominee to replace Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell,
02:40whose term ends May 2026, would disrupt Fed policy setting.
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