U.S. Pressures Tariff Negotiating Countries..."Submit the 'Best Offer' by the 4th"

Korea Economic Daily

Summary

The Donald Trump administration has reportedly demanded that trade negotiating countries submit their 'best offer' by the 4th.
The negotiation proposals are said to include tariffs on U.S. industrial and agricultural products, import quotas, non-tariff barriers, as well as digital trade and economic security.
The Trump administration is strongly pushing for the prompt implementation of reciprocal tariffs, and legal disputes related to this are ongoing.

Trump Firm on Reciprocal Tariffs

The Donald Trump administration is reportedly demanding that trade negotiation partner countries submit their 'best offer' by the 4th. Reuters reported on the 2nd (local time) that it had obtained a draft letter from the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) stating this.

Key areas that each country must address in their proposals include tariffs and quotas (import allotments) on U.S. industrial and agricultural products, as well as plans to improve non-tariff barriers. The letter also requires countries to specify concrete commitments regarding digital trade and economic security.

The Trump administration plans to evaluate each country’s responses within a few days and announce the scope for potential agreements. The agreement may include reciprocal tariff rates to be imposed on the respective countries. The letter was drafted for countries currently in negotiation. It is not yet known to which countries the Trump administration will send the letter. Reuters mentioned countries currently in negotiations such as the European Union (EU), Japan, Vietnam, and India.

Reuters assessed that the Trump administration is pushing to accelerate negotiations. A USTR official told Reuters, "Productive negotiations with several major trading partners are continuing at a rapid pace," and said, "It is in all parties’ interests to review progress and assess the next steps."

President Trump asserted in a post on social media that "Other countries are allowed to place tariffs on us, but if we retaliate quickly and smartly with tariffs, the United States has no chance of economic survival." This was interpreted as defending the justification for tariffs and as pressuring the U.S. judiciary, which is deliberating the effectiveness of reciprocal tariffs.

A U.S. district court recently ruled that the reciprocal tariffs imposed on various countries by the Trump administration are invalid and must be permanently canceled. The Trump administration has appealed against this decision.

New York = Park Shin-young, Correspondent nyusos@hankyung.com