Washington DC [US], August 1 : The White House Press Secretary announced on Thursday (local time) several updates on the front of trade and tariff under the Trump 2.0 administration, highlighting a "historic" trade agreement with the European Union (EU), which amongst several other factors would see the EU purchasing USD750 billion in US energy and also informed of negotiating trade deals with18 major trading partners.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made the remarks during the White House Press Briefing.
Speaking about the trade agreement with the European Union, Leavitt told the media, "On the trade front, the president secured a historic trade agreement with the European Union that puts America first and fundamentally strengthens the economic relationship between the two largest economies in the world. This deal delivers on two of President Trump's core promises on trade- supercharging America's manufacturing capacity and opening up foreign market access to American businesses. The deal guarantees that American businesses will have unprecedented levels of access to the European Union markets to export our American-made goods. Also, as part of this agreement, the EU will purchase $750 billion in U.S. energy to strengthen our energy dominance, reduce European reliance on adversarial sources, and narrow our trade deficit with the EU".
She highlighted that all of these massive purchases and investments will happen by the end of 2028.
"What we are watching is President Trump rebuilding the greatest economy in the history of the world and simultaneously proving the so-called economic experts wrong at every turn. Media pundits said a trade deal with the EU this monumental and beneficial to America would be impossible, but President Trump made it happen", Leavitt added.
Speaking about other negotiations on the trade front, she also answered a query on trade discussions with South Korea. She said, "South Korea will purchase USD 100B in American energy by 2028and the centrepiece of this deal is that South Korea has agreed to invest $350B at the President's direction to revitalise American industry. Ninety per cent of those profits will go to the United States government to help pay down our debt and other matters of the President's choosing. "
Providing a broader view of the administration's trade strategy, Karoline Leavitt said, "We promised that the President would negotiate with countries all around the world to cut tailor-made trade deals ... of our 18 major trading partners, two-thirds of those trading partners have a deal."
"More than 200 countries around the world have reached out to the trade and tariff team...We are going to prioritise our key trading partners...The trade team has been working around the clock to try to be in correspondence with as many countries as possible, but if they haven't heard from us yet, they will in the form of a letter or an executive order by midnight tonight".
As the long-feared tariff hikes come into force on August 1, the US administration has inked a flurry of trade deals. Several nations, including the UK, Indonesia, Japan, and the EU, successfully negotiated lower tariff rates than initially threatened.
US President Donald Trump announced steep trade tariffs for many of the country's largest trading partners, as countries try to get extensions for negotiations beyond the August 1 deadline, Al Jazeera reported.
The Trump administration has justified the new tariff rates as necessary to redress trade imbalances, thereby giving a boost to American manufacturing and jobs, in line with his popular agenda, 'Make America Great Again'.
The White House had confirmed that Trump will sign new executive orders on Thursday, thereby formally imposing all these higher tariffs.
Many countries that would now face new tariffs on all exports to the US are likely to incur immediate economic repercussions; however, the tariffs may also cost the US economy, Al Jazeera reported.
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