Trump eyes simple tariff rates over complex talks, says letters going out Friday

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington will start sending letters to countries on Friday specifying what tariff rates they will face on imports to the United States, a clear shift from earlier pledges to strike scores of individual deals. Acknowledging the complexity of negotiating with over 170 nations, Trump told reporters before departing for Iowa on Thursday that the letters will be sent to 10 countries at a time, laying out tariff rates such as 20 percent to 30 percent. "We have more than 170 countries, and how many deals can you make?" Trump said. "They're very much more complicated." The Republican president said he expected "a couple" more detailed agreements with other countries after Wednesday's announcement of a trade deal with Vietnam. However, he said he preferred to notify most other countries of a specific tariff rate, skipping detailed negotiations. Trump's comments underscored the challenges of completing trade agreements on everything from tariffs to non-tariff barriers such as bans on agricultural imports. Top Trump aides said in April they would workWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times