President Donald Trump, author of “The Art of the Deal,” said in a surprising comment Tuesday that the US does not need to “sign the deal” with its trading partners, despite the fact that such transactions have been a top priority for the administration for weeks.
“Everyone says, ‘When, when, when will you sign the contract?'” Trump complained at a White House meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Kearney.
“We don’t have to sign a deal. They need to sign a deal with us. They want a part of our market. We don’t want a part of their market,” Trump said.
The president and his team have yet to announce a formal agreement or framework after the country says it is seeking bilateral trade talks with the United States.
“I’d like you to stop asking them how many times they’ve signed this week,” Trump said he was clearly annoyed by the pressure on the White House to show progress in trade talks. “Because one day I’ll come and do 100 deals,” he said.
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Trump’s efforts to steal trade deals on Tuesday marked a turn from what his Treasury Secretary, Scott Bescent, told CNBC the day before.
The US is “very close to some deals,” Bescent said in “Money Movers.”
Trump said on Sunday the Air Force’s trade deals were rolled out this week. “Finally, I’m setting up a deal,” he told reporters on his way to Washington.
Trump said Wednesday at News Nation’s city hall that his administration is in “potential deals” with India, South Korea and Japan.
On April 29, he said negotiations with India were “great coming” and that the US would “probably make a deal with India.”
But on Tuesday, Trump accused top aides, including Bescent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick of overtrade trade.
“I don’t think my people are making that clear. We’ll sign some deals,” Trump said. “But what’s far greater than that is lowering the prices people have to pay to shop in the US. Think of us as a super-upscale store that has the goods.”
The US market moved Tuesday afternoon after Trump made comments about the deal.
Investors and business leaders are eager to see the Trump administration be able to negotiate a series of bilateral agreements with major US trade partners such as Japan, South Korea and India before the Trump administration is fully bruntled by the tariff-induced trade slowdown.
But so far, the Trump administration has not provided details about any particular deal. Instead, almost every day, Top Aides publicly states that some transactions are “close” and could be announced within a few days.
