Levitt's Briefing
Only South Korea and Japan Letters Made Public...
"President Chose Those Countries"
The White House announced on July 7 (local time) that it will extend the reciprocal tariff suspension, originally set to expire on July 8, until August 1.
White House spokesperson Caroline Levitt stated during a briefing that President Trump would sign an executive order on this day to extend the reciprocal tariff suspension period to August 1.
In April, President Trump imposed differentiated reciprocal tariffs on 57 economic entities (56 countries plus the European Union), including South Korea, and proceeded with trade negotiations while applying a 90-day suspension period for all tariffs except the basic 10% tariff. With the suspension set to expire at 12:01 a.m. on July 9, trade negotiations with various countries have been ongoing.
By extending the effective date of the reciprocal tariffs, the U.S. government has given major trading partners, including South Korea, about three more weeks to negotiate with the United States.
Levitt stated that letters specifying the reciprocal tariff rates would be sent to each country within a month. She also said that, in addition to the letters sent to President Lee Jaemyung of South Korea and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba of Japan, letters to 12 other countries would be sent during the day. The specific countries were not disclosed.
Earlier in the day, President Trump released the tariff letters sent to President Lee Jaemyung and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba via his self-created social networking service, Truth Social. The reciprocal tariff rates for both South Korea and Japan were set at 25%.
When asked why only the letters to South Korea and Japan were made public, Levitt replied that it was "the president's prerogative" and said, "Those countries were chosen by the president."
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