Trump Administration Prioritizes Quality Over Speed in Trade Agreements

The TRUMP administration is emphasizing the quality of trade agreements over meeting arbitrary deadlines, even as an August 1 cutoff looms. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made it clear that the U.S. won't rush into deals simply to meet the timeline. "We're not going to rush for the sake of doing deals," Bessent told CNBC, underscoring that any agreement must deliver tangible benefits for the United States.

When questioned about extending the deadline for nations engaged in productive discussions, Bessent deferred to President Trump. "We'll see what the president wants to do," he said. He suggested that reverting to scheduled tariffs—or even raising them—could pressure trading partners to offer more favorable terms. "A higher tariff level will put more pressure on those countries to come with better agreements," Bessent added.

On China, Bessent noted that fresh trade talks are expected "in the very NEAR future." He acknowledged the basic stability of U.S.-China trade relations but highlighted concerns over Beijing's purchases of sanctioned Iranian and Russian oil. "The Chinese unfortunately are very large purchasers of sanctioned Iranian oil, sanctioned Russian oil," he said, calling it "the elephant in the room" and urging China to rebalance its economy away from such dependencies.