BofA: Investors pour into bonds, pull back from crypto
Investing.com - U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that President Donald Trump will make the final decision on whether to extend the July 9 deadline for higher tariff rates on trading partners.
The current 10% universal surtax on the European Union, Japan and other trading partners was implemented on April 9 for a 90-day negotiating period, following Trump’s pause on higher duties announced earlier in April. Bessent warned that countries "should be careful, their rate could boomerang back to the April 2 rate" if negotiations aren’t successful.
Bessent confirmed that a trade deal with Vietnam has been "finalized in principle" and stated "we are going to see more trade deals." Regarding ongoing negotiations, he noted "we’ll see what we can do with the EU" and mentioned that "Japan has a lot of domestic constraints" due to an upper house election scheduled for July 20.
On economic matters, the Treasury Secretary acknowledged that tariffs "could lead to one-time price bump" but expressed optimism about the overall economic outlook. He described the employment data trend as "good" despite monthly fluctuations.
Bessent predicted an "acceleration in private sector investment after passage of tax and spending bill" and clarified that interest rate decisions remain with the Federal Reserve, suggesting that if the Fed doesn’t cut now, any interest rate cut in September will be bigger."
This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.