U.S. Treasury Secretary: Full tariff agreement may not be completed in 90 days

In an interview on Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Vincent Bescent said that completing tariff deals with major countries could take longer than the 90-day pause set by the Trump administration last week. "We have 15 large trading partners, 14 in addition to China, and we're moving quickly to set up a process for those 14 largest trading partners, most of which have huge trade deficits [with the United States]," he said. "So can we have a full, formal legal document in 90 days? Not likely."
He continued: "But I think if we follow the process, we can make substantial and clear progress towards an agreement in principle with these 14 countries. Then, once we get to a level that is mutually agreeable and they agree to lower tariffs, lower non-tariff barriers, stop currency manipulation and stop subsidies to industry and labour, then I think we can move forward."
Earlier, the White House issued rules exempting smartphones, computers, semiconductors and other electronics from retaliatory tariffs. Mr. Trump also quickly played down any suggestion that he had reversed course on the tariffs, saying "there is no tariff exemption at all."