White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett announced Thursday morning that trade deals are “moving fast” as nearly 20 countries sent in proposals. However, the realistic timeline of these deals could take years.
Hassett’s update followed President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on “reciprocal” tariffs he levied on dozens of countries last week. Trump imposed 10% universal baseline tariffs along with higher “reciprocal” tariffs on nearly every country due to trade practices he said put U.S. businesses and workers at a disadvantage.
“There’s a big inventory of deals that are right close to the finish line,” Hassett said during a CNBC interview Thursday, adding during another Fox & Friends appearance that the deals are “moving fast” as the United States has received offers “from more than 15 countries” and is “closing in” on 20 offers.
“For sure, there’s a bunch of offers that are really sensible offers, and they’re coming from our top trading partners, and it’s some of the most progress in trade negotiation that I think probably the most progress that we’ve ever seen,” he added.
Hassett revealed that the president will hold discussions and a Cabinet meeting later Thursday to hash out details surrounding the deals. He praised Trump for setting up a system that says, “Hey, we’re serious about negotiation; we’re serious about reciprocity. If you guys come down, we’ll come down. To do that, we’ve got to have some negotiations.”
HASSETT: “We have a meeting today… where we’re going to present a list to @POTUS of what we think his priorities might look like… we’ve already got offers on the table from more than 15 countries… that doesn’t mean there’s a deal, but… this is moving fast.” pic.twitter.com/3vH5QrN1R0
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 10, 2025
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that more than 75 countries have called the U.S. to negotiate new trade deals after tariffs were placed on them. She slammed critics for questioning the president’s tariff strategy, saying they “clearly missed the art of the deal” and “clearly failed to see what President Trump is doing here.”
“You tried to say that the rest of the world would be moved closer to China when, in fact, we’ve seen the opposite effect. The entire world is calling the United States of America, not China because they need our markets. They need our consumers, and they need this President in the Oval Office to talk to them. That’s exactly why more than 75 countries have called because the United States of America is the best place in the world to do business,” she said.
Trump’s February tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico were not lifted on Wednesday. This week, the president raised tariffs on Beijing to 125% as China slapped 84% retaliatory tariffs on the U.S.
President Donald Trump speaks after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Washington. (Pool via AP)
WHITE HOUSE TIGHT-LIPPED ON EXTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE ON EVE OF TARIFF IMPLEMENTATION
Hassett said Thursday that the 10% baseline tariffs imposed on nearly all countries will likely stay in place long-term.
“Everybody expects that the 10 percent baseline tariff is going to be the baseline, and it’s gonna take some kind of extraordinary deal for the president to go below there,” he said.
