White House National Economic Council (NEC) Director Kevin Hassett said on Thursday that more than 15 nations have already come forward with “specific” trade deal offers as President Donald Trump’s “90-day pause” on tariffs for most countries takes effect.
In an interview on “Fox & Friends,” Hassett said that the Trump administration has “offers on the table from more than 15 countries” as the White House says that more than 75 nations are seeking to hash out trade deals to avoid the president’s steep tariffs.
“Now that doesn’t mean there’s a deal,” Hassett clarified before adding that the trade talks are “moving fast.”
“The thing that I joked about when we said the 90-day pause is that we’re going to go around the world in 80 days, and have 10 days of rest,” he said. “That’s our plan.”
HASSETT: “We have a meeting today… where we’re going to present a list to @POTUS of what we think his priorities might look like… we’ve already got offers on the table from more than 15 countries… that doesn’t mean there’s a deal, but… this is moving fast.” pic.twitter.com/3vH5QrN1R0
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 10, 2025
Trump is expected to sit down with his trade advisors on Thursday and be presented with “a list of what [they] think his priorities might look like” for negotiating deals, Hassett said. The NEC director added that Trump will likely “have his own ideas about where to move things” on the list.
In an interview on CNBC, Hassett said that Trump “recognizes that in order to get the big change that we need for America’s workers … we need to create enough pressure on our trading partners that things that American presidents have been asking for, for the last decades, are actually offered at the table.” The NEC director claimed that the timing of Trump’s decision to issue a “90-day pause” was mainly based on the number of countries coming forward to make deals and didn’t have much to do with the stock market’s negative response to the tariffs.
“The amount of stuff that’s coming to the table came up really long before the market movements this week, so it was looking like there had been enough action to get us to the point where we should really genuinely start negotiating,” he said.
NEC Director Kevin Hassett: “I think that what’s been going on all along is @POTUS recognizes that in order to get the big change that we need for America’s workers… that we need to create enough pressure on our trading partners that things that American presidents have been… pic.twitter.com/240HUdjHLh
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 10, 2025
The president dropped tariffs on most countries to a baseline 10% rate on Wednesday while raising China’s “reciprocal tariff” to 125%, which is on top of the previously imposed 20% fentanyl tariff. According to the Trump administration, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam will all meet with White House officials in the coming days. Other than those nations, the administration has not specified which other countries are coming forward with specific trade deals.
On Thursday, the European Union froze its retaliatory tariff on $20 billion worth of U.S. goods that representatives from member countries had approved on Wednesday.
“We took note of the announcement by President Trump. We want to give negotiations a chance,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “While finalising the adoption of the EU countermeasures that saw strong support from our Member States, we will put them on hold for 90 days. If negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in. Preparatory work on further countermeasures continues. As I have said before, all options remain on the table.”
