Trump Hits Foreign Leaders With Tariff Letters After Extending Pause

The White House announced Monday that it would be extending President Donald Trump’s 90-day tariff pause, and said it sent a flurry of letters to foreign leaders urging them to ink their own trade deals with the U.S. ahead of a new Aug. 1 deadline.

Trump fired off the first strongly worded letters to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on Monday, saying he would impose a 25% tariff on goods imported to the U.S. from the two countries.

Hours later, Trump posted cookie-cutter letters on Truth Social that were sent to Myanmar, Laos, South Africa, Kazakhstan and Malaysia, offering tariff rates that were only slightly different from the original rates set on those countries, and ranged as high as 40%. Over the course of the afternoon, the president penned letters to 14 different nations.

“Weeks ago, I stood at this podium and I told all of you that the president was going to create tailor-made trade plans for each and every country on this planet, and that’s what this administration continues to be focused on,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday.

The 90-day pause on Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs was set to end this Wednesday. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that countries would instead have until Aug. 1 to make a deal before again being subjected to the historically high tariffs. Trump signed an executive order on Monday that formally extended the 90-day pause.

But questions remain as to whether the August deadline will be pushed back as well. When asked by reporters Monday night whether the deadline was set in stone, Trump said, “I would say firm, but not 100% firm.”

“If they call up and they say we would like to do something a different way, we’re going to be open to that,” he added.

Trump has previously expressed his preference for writing letters rather than engaging in protracted back-and-forth negotiations.

“We made a deal pretty much with India. We made a deal with China. We made a deal with UK, great people. We made deals,” he told Fox News on June 29. “But I’d rather just send them a letter, a very fair letter, saying, ‘Congratulations, we’re going to allow you to trade in the United States of America. You’re going to pay a 25% tariff, or 20% or a 40 or 50%.’ I would rather do that.”

In the earlier months of the administration, the White House had expressed confidence it would be able to negotiate 90 individually tailored tariff deals during the 90-day pause. It has fallen far short of that, having only announced three deals — ones with the United Kingdom, China and, as of last Wednesday, Vietnam.

NOTUS previously reported that trade negotiations were an effort being undertaken across the executive branch, despite the fact that attention and resources have been split between both foreign policy crises and getting Trump’s sweeping reconciliation bill across the finish line in Congress.

On Friday, Trump told reporters that letters would continue to be sent daily.

“It’s very important. It’s a lot of money for the country, but we’re giving them a bargain,” Trump said, adding later, “They’ll start to pay on Aug. 1. The money will start to come into the United States on Aug. 1, OK? In pretty much all cases.”