Bessent floats extending tariff pause for countries in 'good faith' trade talks

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNBC

Published Wed, Jun 11 2025 3:56 PM EDT | Updated Wed, Jun 11 2025 6:11 PM EDT


Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaled the Trump administration’s openness on Wednesday to extend President Donald Trump’s current 90-day tariff pause beyond July 9 for the U.S.′ top trading partners, as long as they show “good faith” in ongoing trade negotiations. The U.S. has 18 “important trading partners,” Bessent said at a hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee in Washington.

The Trump administration, he said, is “working toward deals” with those countries. “It is highly likely,” said Bessent, that for those countries and trading blocs, like the European Union, “who are negotiating in good faith,” the U.S. would “roll the date forward to continue good faith negotiations.” “If someone is not negotiating, then we will not,” he told the House’s tax writing committee.

Until now, Trump administration officials have not suggested that they are open to moving back the 90-day tariff pause without at least “terms of an agreement” before the pause expires.

Bessent’s remarks indicate that the Trump administration might be more inclined to shift the self-imposed deadline as it gets closer. President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs, announced on April 9, is set to end in less than a month.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/11/bessent-tariff-pause-negotiations-trump.html

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I thought there were "200 deals"?

[JBTaurus83]

1. TACO Thursday.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. With BACO bits sprinkled on top.

[Ray Bruns]

3. TACO!

[JohnSJ]

4. Per Bloomberg TV: The tariffs set by this administration on April 2, and now this administration

is saying we are going to send you letters, and set new rates, contradicting the rates just set by this administration a few months ago. It is basically an implication by this administration that we didn't like the rates we set before, and we are going to set new rates.

In the middle of a trade negotiation with Japan and US trade officials, it was reported that Jamieson Greer, scott bessent, and Howard lutnick all got into an argument among themselves, questioning if they are all united what they want to get out of these trade negotiations.

https://www.forexlive.com/news/bessent-lutnick-greer-bickering-in-front-of-japan-trade-negotiators-hindering-progress-20250606/

[Prairie Gates]

7. Bessent and Lutnick have become MAGA ideologues; Greer still works for the capitalists

It's a three-ring circus.

[delisen]

5. Bessent lies to Americans to cover his failure on tariffs

Warning countries they have to play by Trump’s rules does not seem to be working.

[Prairie Gates]

6. This is so fucking goofy - there was no need for the tariff threats at all

Countries are always in trade negotiations of various kinds all the time. That's why there's a World Trade Organization, and a US Trade Representative, which is a fucking cabinet-level position.

So, basically, they made these insane tariff threats, tanked the markets, and then pulled them back out of fear and because they were being absolutely hounded by the capitalists, and now they're saving face by saying that countries are negotiating with the US on various trade deals, which is and has been the fucking status quo anyway.

"Oh, we're going to hold off on these tariffs because countries are negotiating with us in good faith."

Yeah, no shit, idiot. Countries are constantly negotiating trade deals with each other in good faith. These clowns are acting like they invented trade negotiations with their tariff nonsense. The whole thing at this point relies on the utter ignorance of the American people about how global trade has actually worked, since at least the 1960s.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Well we have pretty much dismissed the WTO

Exclusive: US pauses financial contributions to WTO, trade sources say

By Emma Farge
March 28, 2025 9:58 AM EDT Updated 2 months ago


GENEVA, March 28 (Reuters) - The United States has paused contributions to the World Trade Organization, three trade sources told Reuters, as U.S. President Donald Trump's administration ramps up efforts to cut government spending. The Trump administration is retreating from global institutions it sees as at odds with his "America First" economic policies. It plans to quit some, such as the World Health Organization, and has cut contributions to others as part of a broad review of federal spending.

The WTO has already been hobbled by a U.S. move in 2019 during Trump's first term to block new judge appointments to its top appeals court, which left its key dispute settlement system only partially functional. Washington had accused the WTO Appellate Body of judicial overreach in trade disputes.

The Geneva-based trade watchdog had an annual budget of 205 million Swiss francs ($232.06 million) in 2024. The United States was due to contribute about 11% of that based on a fees system that is proportionate to its share of global trade, according to public WTO documents.

A U.S. delegate told a March 4 WTO budget meeting that its payments to the 2024 and 2025 budgets were on hold pending a review of contributions to international organisations and that it would inform the WTO of the outcome at an unspecified date, two trade sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said. A third trade source confirmed their account and said the WTO was coming up with a "Plan B" in case of a prolonged funding pause, without elaborating.

(snip)

[Prairie Gates]

9. That has no bearing on my point at all

[BumRushDaShow]

10. What it means is

that many of the agreements brokered by the WTO are being ignored, which is why China filed a complaint to the WTO regarding the tariffs -

China initiates WTO dispute complaint regarding US tariff measures

Then they did another - China files new complaint to WTO over Trump tariffs

I agree that these on-again / off-again tariffs are a bogus way to manipulate the market but since you wrote this -

Countries are always in trade negotiations of various kinds all the time. That's why there's a World Trade Organization

that's why I wrote what I wrote.

Capiche?

[Prairie Gates]

11. My mentionof the WTO was only there to show

that trade negotiation is the status quo, not a result of tariffs.

So, still no bearing.

Hai capito?

[BumRushDaShow]

12. But the issue of tariffs IS under the purview of the WTO

notably how it is being handed by the U.S., which was why the complaint where we have violated our agreed-to trade treaties.

I understand that "trade negotiations happen" (like "shit happens" ), but in this case, there are "rules" and we have stopped abiding by them.

I.e., as soon as China joined the WTO way back, we "normalized" trade relations with them. I wrote a reply related to that and linked to when that happened - https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/12/20011227-2.html

[republianmushroom]

13. Showing signs of caving.