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ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — President Trump said Friday that the White House will soon be issuing tariff rates to countries unilaterally — as negotiations are taking too long to meet with every country one-on-one.
“We have, at the same time, 150 countries that want to make a deal, but you’re not able to see that many countries,” Trump said at a business roundtable in Abu Dhabi.
Trump speaks to members of the media accompanying him aboard Air Force One, after leaving Abu Dhabi at the end of his Middle East tour on May 16, 2025. AFP via Getty Images“So at a certain point, over the next two to three weeks, I think Scott and Howard will be sending letters out, essentially telling people –- we’ll be very fair –- but we’ll be telling people what they’ll be paying to do business in the United States.”
The president first issued major tariffs on April 2 as a part of his “Liberation Day” tariffs, jacking up rates on countries at levels proportional to what his administration deemed appropriate, given their rates on the US.
A container ship is moored at the port of New York & New Jersey in Elizabeth, NJ on May 12, 2025. APHe then paused his tariffs for 90 days on April 9 to do trade talks with countries directly to get better rates for the US. He set the rate at 10% for every country other than China, which sat at 145%.
Since, the White House has negotiated deals with the UK — leaving the 10% tariff and opening up the agriculture market for the US — and China, which lowered the US rate on Beijing to 30%, and got the Chinese rate down to 10%.
Trade counselor Peter Navarro previously told reporters that US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer had his schedule booked into July with meeting with foreign countries to discuss trade, suggesting that more deals were coming down the pipeline.
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