President Donald Trump signaled Sunday that he does not intend to prolong a 90-day pause on tariffs for most countries beyond July 9, ramping up pressure on foreign negotiators to strike trade deals before new penalties take effect.
In an interview on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures, Trump said that letters warning countries about the impending tariffs would start going out “pretty soon.” He explained, “We’ll look at how a country treats us – are they good, are they not so good – some countries we don’t care, we’ll just send a high number out.”
According to Trump, the letters would carry a blunt message: “Congratulations, we’re allowing you to shop in the United States of America, you’re going to pay a 25% tariff, or a 35% or a 50% or 10%.”
The 90-day negotiating window was meant to deliver quick results, with Trump initially floating the ambitious target of 90 trade deals in 90 days. However, he admitted, “There’s 200 countries, you can’t talk to all of them,” acknowledging the complexity of parallel negotiations.
While trade talks continue, Trump also addressed issues ranging from the future of TikTok to military action against Iran.
TikTok’s uncertain future
Trump revealed that a group of wealthy American investors is preparing a bid to purchase TikTok, the Chinese-owned social media app whose future has been repeatedly threatened by US national security concerns.
“We have a buyer for TikTok, by the way. I think I’ll need, probably, China approval, and I think President Xi (Jinping) will probably do it,” he told Fox News, though he declined to name the investors, saying only, “I’ll tell you in about two weeks.”
TikTok has faced a series of US bans, with Trump earlier this month signing an executive order that gave the platform 90 more days to operate while the administration tried to finalize a sale to American interests.
Iran strike aftermath
The president also doubled down on the effectiveness of recent US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, insisting they had “obliterated” key sites and temporarily halted Iran’s push for a nuclear weapon.
“It was obliterated like nobody’s ever seen before,” Trump said, adding that Iran had been “weeks away” from developing a nuclear weapon before the attack.
His claims were immediately challenged. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that Trump had “exaggerated to cover up and conceal the truth.” In an interview on CBS Face the Nation, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, called the nuclear program peaceful and defended uranium enrichment as an “inalienable right.”
Meanwhile, Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told CBS there was “severe damage, but it’s not total damage,” countering Trump’s statement.
Trump, frustrated with leaks of a preliminary US intelligence assessment suggesting Iran’s setback might be only temporary, demanded accountability. “Anyone found to be responsible should be prosecuted,” he warned, adding that reporters should be pressed to reveal their sources.
Shifting on immigration
On domestic issues, Trump repeated his hardline stance on immigration but opened the door to a “temporary pass” for farmers and hoteliers to protect their workforce from sudden immigration raids.
“I’m the strongest immigration guy that there’s ever been, but I’m also the strongest farmer guy that there’s ever been,” he argued, acknowledging that deporting undocumented farm and hospitality workers could damage businesses.
His remarks contrast with the Department of Homeland Security’s position earlier this month, when a top official said there would be “no safe spaces for industries who harbour violent criminals or purposely try to undermine” enforcement efforts.
China trade and future deals
On China, Trump praised a recent trade deal involving rare earth exports and hinted that Beijing would have to live with steep tariffs to reduce America’s trade deficit. “China’s going to be paying a lot of tariffs, but we have a big (trade) deficit, they understand that,” he said.
He left the door open to lifting sanctions on Iranian oil sales to China if Tehran demonstrates peaceful intentions, but still warned of potential retaliation against Beijing for hacking and intellectual property theft. “You don’t think we do that to them?” he shot back when Fox’s Maria Bartiromo raised the topic of Chinese cyber-espionage.
