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Zhao Ziwen

With the July 9 deadline for “Liberation Day” tariffs nearing, US President Donald Trump said on Friday that “over the next week and a half or so”, Washington would inform countries “what they have to pay” to do business with America.
His remarks came hours after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested trade talks could continue to September.
Trump also directed a new salvo at Canada, announcing an immediate halt to trade talks in retaliation for Ottawa’s plan to introduce a digital trade tax that could largely target American tech firms.
“At a certain point, over the next week and a half or so, or maybe before, we’re going to send out a letter. We talked to many other countries, and we are just going to tell them what they have to pay to do business in the United States. And it’s going to go very quickly,” Trump told reporters.
He said he sent the letter because Washington has “200 countries” to negotiate with and the administration “can’t do that”.
Trump indicated he expected agreements with China and India soon.
“We made a deal with China … We’re going to be trading in China. That’s going to come a little bit down the road, but we’re going to be trading in China,” he said.
On India, he said, “we’re going to reach a deal, where we have the right to go in and trade”.
However, only less than an hour after his announcement, he said the US would halt trade talks with Canada.
“We have just been informed that Canada, a very difficult Country to TRADE with … has just announced that they are putting a Digital Services Tax on our American Technology Companies, which is a direct and blatant attack on our Country,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately.”

Last week, Canadian Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne suggested that the digital tax might be negotiated as part of the now-halted talks, saying: “That is something that we’re considering as part of broader discussions.”
The tax will be 3 per cent of digital service revenue of a firm making from Canadian users above C$20 million (US$14.6 million) a year.
Canada, the second-largest US trading partner, behind Mexico, was one of the first nations targeted by Trump’s tariffs in February and has seen repeated disputes over agricultural and industrial goods, and digital taxation.
Hours before Trump’s announcement of the letter to trading partners and the suspension of negotiations with Ottawa, Bessent hinted trade talks could be completed by September.
He told Fox Business that “if we can ink 10 or 12 of the important 18, there are another important 20 relationships, then I think we could have trade wrapped up by Labour Day” on September 1.
Trump imposed sweeping 10 per cent tariffs on most countries and higher rates on some crucial global economies in April. However, he soon paused the tariffs exceeding the 10 per cent baseline with negotiations taking place, and the suspension is due to expire on July 9.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick vowed on Thursday to focus on talks with leading trading partners, saying: “We’re going to do top 10 deals, put them in the right category, and then these other countries will fit behind.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also told reporters on Thursday the trade talk deadlines “could be extended, but that’s a decision for the president to make”, adding the date was “not critical”.
So far, the US has reached a trade deal with Britain, and suggested that a pact could be achieved with China, with negotiations continuing. Washington also is optimistic about a trade deal with India, but a New Delhi source told Reuters on Thursday there were still a number of disagreements.
Traditional allies, including the European Union, Japan and South Korea have yet to reach any final agreement with Washington.

In a statement on Saturday, China’s Commerce Ministry said it opposed any country sacrificing Chinese interests in exchange for US tariff cuts or exemptions.
“If this happens, China will not accept it and it will certainly roll out countermeasures to protect its legitimate interests,” the ministry said.
On Thursday, the White House also confirmed that Washington and Beijing reached a “framework” agreement, touching upon the two sides’ critical concerns over rare earths and how to further implement a bilateral trade deal.
“The administration and China agreed to an additional understanding for a framework to implement the Geneva agreement,” a White House official said. The understanding focused on “how we can implement expediting rare earths shipments to the US again”.
China’s Commerce Ministry said on Friday that China would approve exports of “controlled items that meet the criteria in accordance with the law”, and the US would “correspondingly lift” restrictive measures imposed on China, without providing further details.
Wendy Cutler, vice-president of the Asia Society Policy Institute and the former deputy US trade representative, said by email that the China-US deal ensured the implementation of the two sides’ Geneva talks outcome but that it did not completely solve trade problems between the two countries.
“The new China deal appears to provide the level of detail needed to ensure that the six-week-old Geneva agreement is actually implemented,” she wrote.
“It’s a deal to clear up misunderstandings that have haunted the Geneva accord rather than one that addresses other pressing bilateral economic disputes, including Chinese excess capacity.”
She also predicted that the trade talks with some countries could “go on well through the calendar year and beyond” if the negotiation needed to be conducted by multiple stages.


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US president also announces halt to talks with Canada, calling it a ‘very difficult country to trade with’


US president also announces halt to talks with Canada, calling it a ‘very difficult country to trade with’.


Trump says US to tell countries ‘what they have to pay’, sees China, India deals soon

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}US president also announces halt to talks with Canada, calling it a ‘very difficult country to trade with’

US president also announces halt to talks with Canada, calling it a ‘very difficult country to trade with’