At the end of his first 100 days in office this past April, President Donald Trump made a bold claim: he had finalized trade deals with 200 countries. Yet more than two months later, only three agreements — with China, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam — have been officially announced.
So what changed?
Wednesday marked the original deadline Trump had set three months ago for all countries to strike a deal or face heightened “reciprocal” tariffs. However, Trump later conceded that delaying the rollout of those so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs until July 9 left too little time to negotiate with nearly every nation globally.
While Trump had initially hoped to complete a much larger number of trade agreements by this point, sources familiar with the situation tell CNN that he has recently come to accept that sealing those deals would take more time. That shift in expectations has been reflected in his recent messaging, which has moved toward announcing higher tariffs via formal letters — a way of applying pressure while negotiations remain ongoing.
To keep talks alive, especially with countries nearing agreement, Trump has agreed to extend the deadline to August 1. One of the key ongoing negotiations is with the European Union, which appears to be on the brink of finalizing a trade pact with the United States.
