Duties, three more weeks from the US. Bessent: "Without agreement they will start on August 1st"

MILAN – The United States is effectively granting three more weeks of time to the countries with which it is negotiating on tariffs. This was made clear by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in an interview with CNN, also explaining that American duties will return to the levels of April 2 if there is no trade agreement, tariffs will kick in on August 1. Bessent also said that negotiations with the EU are "progressing": after a slow start to negotiations, "there has been progress," he said. "We will be very busy in the next 72 hours: we will see a lot of agreements," he then added in general terms, underlining that several important agreements will be announced in the "next couple of days," Bessent said.

"We are focused on 18 countries that represent 95% of the trade deficit," Bessent clarified, underlining that the strategy applied in the negotiations is that of "maximum pressure".

Tajani: “The US has the final say on tariffs”

On the Italian side of the tariff issue, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani also spoke today. On the tariffs, "it is difficult to make predictions, we have always said that 10% would not be an unbearable duty for our economy", he said speaking at the Forum in Masseria 2025 interviewed by Bruno Vespa. "The negotiation is underway, there are various options - he added -. It is still too early to understand the outcome, also because in the end, on the American side, Trump will have the final say".

"My idea is that a tariff war is not good for anyone and the general idea should be to have zero tariffs to promote growth and development." Which are the 12 countries for which the letters will be sent tomorrow "I don't know, you should ask Trump, but Europe negotiates on its own and therefore they are other countries I think."