President Trump Tuesday insisted there would be “no exceptions” to his looming harsh tariffs, in a new flip-flop just hours after he said the new date was not 100% set in stone.
Trump posted that Aug. 1 is the new hard deadline for the new tariff rates of up to 40%, deflating expectations of more delays after months of confusing and contradictory trade policy announcements.
“There has been no change to this date, and there will be no change,” Trump said on his social media site. “In other words, all money will be due and payable starting Aug 1, 2025. No extensions will be granted.”
Trump struck a very different tone on tariffs Monday night, when he said it was not “100% firm” certain that the new tariffs would take effect on Aug. 1.
“If [the affected countries] call up and they say we’d like to do something a different way, we’re going to be open to that,” he said.
Administration officials and trading partners suggested that negotiations could still take place in the next three weeks after Trump published letters to 14 nations on Monday, listing tax rates on goods imported from them to the U.S.
Markets had a muted reaction to the new statement, with European and Asian markets rising modestly.
Wall Street tumbled by nearly 1% Monday in response to the initial deadline announcement, which hit at hopes Trump would shelve plans for a trade war completely.
Traders may be wary of selling stocks after previous dips were followed by jumps when Trump backed off tariffs, a phenomenon dubbed the “Taco trade,” an acronym for “Trump always chickens out.”
