Economy

US treasury chief says quality of trade deals more important than timing

US trading partners told their rates could ‘boomerang’ back to April 2 levels, says Scott Bessent

Mücahithan Avcıoğlu  | 21.07.2025 - Update : 21.07.2025
US treasury chief says quality of trade deals more important than timing

ISTANBUL

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated Monday that the important thing about the trade deals is the "quality" rather than the timing of the deals, as the countries are trying to reach agreements before the August 1 deadline.

"President Trump has created maximum leverage as only he can do. What we are seeing is these imbalances built up over 20, 30, 40 years, and we are more concerned with high-quality deals than getting these deals done by Aug. 1," Bessent told CNBC television.

The secretary noted that the trading partners of the US are told that the tariff rates could "boomerang" back to the April 2 levels.

"We can continue talking then, but again, we're proceeding at pace with the negotiations, but we're not going to rush for the sake of doing deals," he said.

In response to a question about the EU trade negotiations, Bessent said there is a lot of "back and forth" in the talks.

"We have a gigantic trade deficit with the EU, and so with the level of tariffs, it will affect them more. So I would imagine that they would want to negotiate faster," he noted.

The secretary said the EU started the talks at a "slow pace," but they have become more engaged.

"I do think that some of the underlying national governments are frustrated by the pace, but again, it's an EU negotiation, not a country-by-country negotiation," he stressed.

About talks with Japan, he pointed out that their priorities are not the internal workings of the Japanese government, but getting the best deal for the American people.

In April, US President Donald Trump introduced his "reciprocal" tariffs, imposing blanket tariffs on most nations. He later suspended those tariffs, firstly to July 9 and then to August 1.

Meanwhile, countries such as Japan and the EU bloc have been trying to reach an agreement with the US to be subjected to lower tariff rates than the April 2 levels.

This month, the US president has sent letters to numerous countries, informing them of the tariff rate they will be paying as of Aug. 1.

They included the EU with a 30% rate and Japan with 25%.

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