Treasury Secretary Bessent claims several trade announcements coming as deadline looms
As time ticks on President Donald Trump's Wednesday tariff deadline, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed the administration would be making "several announcements in the next 48 hours."
"We are going to have several announcements in the next 48 hours. And Joe, I think what President Trump is concerned about is the quality of the deals, not the quantity, as you could imagine," he said during an appearance on CNBC's Squawk Box.
Bessent claimed that his inbox has been full of offers after Trump elevated his threats to re-impose reciprocal tariff rates.
But similar to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Bessent noted that Aug. 1 would be the day when the rates actually go into effect.
"So it's going to be a busy couple of days," Bessent said. "But importantly too that President Trump has said that they would the countries would not go back to the reciprocal rate until Aug. 1."
Asked about the trade letters Trump claims he will be sending to America's trading partners starting on Monday, Bessent called them "standard" letters with an option to continue negotiations. Bessent also previewed a meeting with Chinese officials "in the next couple of weeks" to advance trade talks.
