’It’s complicated’: Trump set goals for 90 trade deals in 90 days, settles with 100 letters for simple tariffs

President Donald Trump announced that the United States will begin issuing formal notifications to countries outlining the tariff rates they will face on exports to the US, a move away from pursuing numerous individual trade agreements.

Speaking to reporters before heading to Iowa on Thursday, Trump said letters will be sent out starting Friday to 10 countries at a time. These notifications will detail specific tariff rates, which he said could range from 20% to 30%.

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% to 30%.

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“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 work on 90 deals in 90 days, an ambitious goal that was met with skepticism from trade experts familiar with arduous and time-consuming trade deals of the past.

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Bloomberg Television that about 100 countries are likely to see a reciprocal tariff rate of 10% and predicted a “flurry” of trade deals announced before a July 9 deadline when tariffs could rise sharply.

If 10% tariffs were given to 100 countries, that would be fewer than originally envisioned by the Trump administration.

A list prepared earlier by the Trump administration showed 123 jurisdictions slated for the 10% tariff rate, including mostly smaller countries and territories such as Australia’s uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands.

Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariff policy, first revealed on April 2, sent shockwaves through financial markets with proposed tariffs ranging from 10% to 50%. He later temporarily reduced the rate to 10% for most countries to allow time for negotiations before the July 9 deadline.

So far, many of the countries assigned the initial 10% rate have not entered into talks with the US administration. The United Kingdom is a notable exception—it struck a deal in May to retain the 10% tariff and gained sectoral benefits for areas like automotive and aerospace products.

Larger trading partners currently negotiating with the US have been assigned higher tariffs, including 20% for the European Union, 26% for India, and 24% for Japan. Countries that have yet to initiate discussions face even steeper rates—50% for Lesotho, 47% for Madagascar, and 36% for Thailand.

On Wednesday, Trump unveiled a new agreement with Vietnam, reducing tariffs on many Vietnamese goods from 46% to 20%, while allowing many US products duty-free access to the Vietnamese market.

With inputs from agencies