A Big Beautiful Bill or Big Ugly Bill? America's future hangs in the balance
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RTHK
3 hours ago
- RTHK
Trump to send letters laying out tariff rates
Trump to send letters laying out tariff rates Donald Trump says letters will be sent out starting on Friday to ten trading partners at a time to inform them of their tariff rates. File photo: Reuters US President Donald Trump said Washington will start sending letters to countries on Friday specifying what tariff rates they will face on imports to the United States, a clear shift from earlier pledges to strike scores of individual deals. 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 percent to 30 percent. "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. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Bloomberg Television that about 100 countries are likely to see a reciprocal tariff rate of 10 percent and predicted a "flurry" of trade deals announced before a July 9 deadline when tariffs could rise sharply. But so far, the Trump administration has only unveiled deals with the UK and Vietnam, while Washington and Beijing agreed to temporarily lower staggeringly high levies on each other's products. The Trump administration's original reciprocal tariff list showed 123 jurisdictions that would be given a 10 percent tariff rate – mostly small countries, along with some territories such as Australia's uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands. Trump sent markets into a tailspin on April 2 with sweeping reciprocal tariff rates of up to 50 percent, although he temporarily reduced the tariff rate for most countries to 10 percent to allow time for negotiations through July 9. Many countries with an initial 10 percent duty rate have not had any negotiations with the Trump administration, with the exception of Britain, which reached a deal in May to keep a 10 percent rate and won preferential treatment for some sectors including autos and aircraft engines. Major trading partners now involved in negotiations were hit with much higher tariff rates, including 20 percent for the European Union, 26 percent for India and 24 percent for Japan. Other countries that have not engaged in trade talks with the Trump administration face even higher reciprocal tariffs, including 50 percent for the tiny mountain kingdom of Lesotho, 47 percent for Madagascar and 36 percent for Thailand. Trump on Wednesday announced an agreement with Vietnam that he said cuts US tariffs on many Vietnamese goods to 20 percent from his previously threatened 46 percent. Many US products would be allowed to enter Vietnam duty free. (Agencies)
South China Morning Post
4 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Trump says he'll start sending out tariff rate letters ‘probably tomorrow'
US President Donald Trump said that his administration may begin sending out letters to trading partners as soon as Friday setting unilateral tariff rates ahead of a July 9 deadline for negotiations. Advertisement 'We're probably going to be sending some letters out, starting probably tomorrow, maybe 10 a day to various countries saying what they're going to pay to do business with the US,' Trump told reporters on Thursday as he left Washington for an event in Iowa. Trump has long threatened that if countries fail to reach deals with the US before next week's deadline, he would simply impose rates on them, raising the stakes for trading partners who have rushed to secure agreements with his administration. The US president initially announced his higher so-called 'reciprocal' tariffs on April 2, but paused those for 90 days to allow countries time to negotiate, putting in place a 10 per cent rate during that interval. So far, the Trump administration has announced deals with the UK and Vietnam and agreed to a truce with China that saw the world's two largest economies ease tit-for-tat tariffs. Advertisement Asked Thursday if more deals were on the way, Trump responded that 'we have a couple of other deals, but you know, my inclination is to send a letter out and say what tariffs they are going to be paying'. 'It's much easier,' he said.
RTHK
5 hours ago
- RTHK
US Congress gives final approval to Trump's tax bill
US Congress gives final approval to Trump's tax bill Republicans celebrate the passage of Trump's signature tax- and spending-cut bill, which was approved by the House of Representatives by 218 votes to 214. Photo: Reuters US President Donald Trump's tax-cut package cleared its final hurdle in the US Congress on Thursday, as the Republican-controlled House of Representatives narrowly approved the massive bill and sent it to him to sign into law. The 218-214 vote amounts to a significant victory for the Republican president that will fund his immigration crackdown, make his 2017 tax cuts permanent and deliver new tax breaks that he promised during his 2024 campaign. It also cuts health and food safety net programs and zeroes out dozens of green energy incentives. It would add US$3.4 trillion to the nation's US$36.2 trillion debt, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Despite concerns within Trump's party over the 869-page bill's price tag and its hit to healthcare programs, in the end just two of the House's 220 Republicans voting against it, following an overnight standoff. The bill has already cleared the Republican-controlled Senate by the narrowest possible margin. The White House said Trump will sign it into law at 2100 GMT on Friday, the July 4 Independence Day holiday. Republicans said the legislation will lower taxes for Americans across the income spectrum and spur economic growth. Trump said his signature bill would boost the US economy. "It's going to make this country into a rocket ship," Trump told reporters as he headed for a rally in Iowa to kick off America's 250th birthday celebrations, calling it the "the biggest bill of its kind ever signed." "This is jet fuel for the economy, and all boats are going to rise," House Speaker Mike Johnson said. Every Democrat in Congress voted against it, blasting the bill as a giveaway to the wealthy that would leave millions uninsured. "The focus of this bill, the justification for all of the cuts that will hurt everyday Americans, is to provide massive tax breaks for billionaires," House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in an eight-hour, 46-minute speech that was the longest in the chamber's history. Though roughly a dozen House Republicans threatened to vote against the bill, only two ended up doing so: Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, a centrist, and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a conservative who said it did not cut spending enough. Republicans raced to meet Trump's July 4 deadline, working through last weekend and holding all-night debates in the House and the Senate. The bill passed the Senate on Tuesday in a 51-50 vote in that saw Vice President JD Vance cast the tiebreaking vote. According to the CBO, the bill would lower tax revenues by US$4.5 trillion over 10 years and cut spending by US$1.1 trillion. Those spending cuts largely come from Medicaid, the health program that covers 71 million low-income Americans. The bill would tighten enrollment standards, institute a work requirement and clamp down on a funding mechanism used by states to boost federal payments – changes that would leave nearly 12 million people uninsured, according to the CBO. Nonpartisan analysts have found that the wealthiest Americans would see the biggest benefits from the bill, while lower-income people would effectively see their incomes drop as the safety-net cuts would outweigh their tax cuts. The increased debt load created by the bill would also effectively transfer money from younger to older generations, analysts say. (Agencies)
