Trump says U.S. will set tariff rates for most nations within weeks

President Trump on Friday said his administration will send letters that inform other nations of the tariff rates the U.S. will impose on imports, adding that “it’s not possible to meet the number of people that want to see us.”

“[W]e have, at the same time, 150 countries that want to make a deal, but you’re not able to see that many countries,” Mr. Trump said during a Friday business roundtable between the U.S. and United Arab Emirates. 

Mr. Trump said the letters will be sent by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, adding that the rates “would be very fair, but we’ll be telling people what they’ll be paying to do business in the United States.”

The Trump administration has been negotiating with the U.K., China and other major trading partners in recent weeks over his April 2 tariffs, which set historically high duties on imported goods for almost every country on the globe. 

U.S. companies such as Walmart and Target, along with many small businesses, pay the tariffs on imports — not the nations that produce the goods — and those companies typically pass off the costs to American consumers in the form of higher prices. 

—This is a breaking story and will be updated.