MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
OK, to other news today, specifically that President Trump has followed through with a threat he has made often in recent weeks. He sent letters to foreign countries informing them of tariffs he plans to impose on their exports to the U.S. This announcement after months of confusion over how he would proceed with his tariffs. NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben is here. Hey there, Danielle.
DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN, BYLINE: Hey, Mary Louise.
KELLY: Give us a little more detail on what exactly happened today.
KURTZLEBEN: Sure. Well, a couple big things happened on trade today. One is that Trump began releasing those letters to foreign leaders, telling several of them what tariffs the U.S. will impose on their goods starting on August 1. Now, those countries include some major trading partners like Japan and South Korea, both of which got 25% tariffs. But some countries are much higher. Some countries got 40%. And all of these are a significant jump from where we are now, which is 10% tariffs for most countries. And one more thing to note - 10% is itself higher than tariffs were on average in the last administration.
KELLY: And Danielle, I just said this follows months of confusion. Just briefly walk us back through the timeline of how we got here.
KURTZLEBEN: Sure. So let's go back to April 2, when Trump imposed tariffs on nearly every country. And he did it in this big Rose Garden announcement. There was a lot of fanfare. Well, then markets panicked 'cause some of those tariffs were really high, so he pulled them all back to 10% across the board. He called it a pause, saying tariffs would stay there for 90 days until July 9. Now, he said, by then - by July 9 - he'd make deals with all of those countries. At one point, the administration said, 90 deals in 90 days. Well, that didn't happen. Thus far, only two deals have been announced - with the U.K. and a preliminary deal with Vietnam. So lately, Trump started saying he would send letters telling countries their rates. But that brings us to one other piece of tariff news that happened today, which is the president is signing an executive order pushing that July 9 date out to August 1. So now there's more time, theoretically, for Trump to get deals done.
KELLY: Well - and what is the White House saying about why this keeps getting kicked down the road?
KURTZLEBEN: Well, here at the White House today at the press briefing, a reporter asked about that - if the delay means that making deals is just harder than Trump expected. And here's how Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
KAROLINE LEAVITT: No, it's an acknowledgment that this administration is doing what's best for the American worker. And we want the best deals possible for our workers, for our manufacturing base, for our middle class. And they are doing this deliberately and appropriately, on behalf of our country's interests.
KURTZLEBEN: A big goal of Trump's tariffs is to boost manufacturing. He told the countries that they could avoid these tariffs if their companies manufacture in the U.S. But economists say, well, that may not be so easy, and also, even if it did work, it would take several years to boost U.S. manufacturing like that. And economists also say these tariffs will likely boost consumer prices. But getting back to that August 1 deadline, we have seen Trump time and again make tariff threats, walk them back. So we may see tariffs bounce back up, or he might change his mind again.
KELLY: And just a few seconds left, Danielle. But that August 1 deadline, it's less than a month away. What are you watching for?
KURTZLEBEN: Well, we'll be watching for the tariff rates on the big U.S. trading partners like Taiwan and India. And also, the rates are worth watching closely. Thus far, these tariffs are close to what Trump announced on April 2, so will he keep announcing high tariffs, and will they stick?
KELLY: Thank you, Danielle.
KURTZLEBEN: Thank you.
KELLY: NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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