US not rushing trade deals ahead of August deadline, Bessent says
The Trump administration is more concerned with the quality of trade agreements rather than their timing, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday ahead of an Aug. 1 deadline for securing a trade deal or facing steep tariffs.
“We’re not going to rush for the sake of doing deals,” Bessent told CNBC in an interview.
Asked whether the deadline could be extended for countries engaged in productive talks with Washington, Bessent said U.S. President Donald Trump would decide.
“We’ll see what the president wants to do. But again, if we somehow boomerang back to the August 1 tariff, I would think that a higher tariff level will put more pressure on those countries to come with better agreements,” he said.
On China, Bessent said there would be “talks in the very near future.”
As for Japan, Bessent said the administration was less concerned with its domestic politics than with getting the best deal for Americans.
