‘Good chance’ of US-UK trade deal, Vance reportedly says

President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser on Monday said the U.S. is close to deals with more than 10 trading partners.

“The President will decide when he’s satisfied with the deal and when he wants to announce it, and how many all at once. But I can tell you, the progress has been astonishing,” Kevin Hassett said.

Meanwhile, Trump said in his Oval Office meeting with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele that he was considering tariff exemptions on imported components for U.S. auto manufacturers as they switch to parts manufactured in the U.S.

Latest Developments

Apr 15, 6:34 AM

‘Good chance’ of US-UK trade deal, Vance reportedly says

Vice President JD Vance reportedly said the U.S. and U.K. are currently “working very hard” on a trade deal and that there’s a “good chance” the two sides will come to an agreement.

“The president really loves the United Kingdom. He loved the queen. He admires and loves the king. It is a very important relationship. And he’s a businessman and has a number of important business relationships in an interview with UnHerd, a British news and opinion website, published on Tuesday.

Vance did not say how soon a deal could be reached with the U.K., but suggested it may be easier to reach one than with other European allies.

“With the United Kingdom, we have a much more reciprocal relationship than we have with, say, Germany… While we love the Germans, they are heavily dependent on exporting to the United States but are pretty tough on a lot of American businesses that would like to export into Germany,” he said.

“Fairness” is at the center of working out deals, according to Vance, who said it will “lead to a lot of positive trade relationships with Europe.”

“We very much see Europe as our ally,” he told UnHerd. “We just want it to be an alliance where Europeans are a little more independent, and our security and trade relationships are gonna reflect that.”

And after stocks across the globe plunged in the wake of Trump’s tariffs announcement, Vance said in the interview that “any implementation of a new system is fundamentally going to make financial markets jittery.”

“No plan is, you know, going to be implemented perfectly,” he said, adding, “We’re very cognisant of the fact that we live in a complicated world where nobody else’s decisions are static. But the fundamental policy is to rebalance global trade, and I think the President has been very clear and persistent on that.”

The Trump administration has a meeting scheduled with Japanese officials on Wednesday and a meeting with South Korea next week.

-ABC News’ Justin Gomez

Apr 14, 8:03 PM

’Unprecedented power grab’: Small businesses sue over Trump’s tariffs

The national emergency Trump used to justify his sweeping tariffs is a “figment of his own imagination,” argued a group of small businesses that urged a federal court to declare the tariffs unlawful.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in the Court of International Trade in New York, the group of businesses alleged that the law used to invoke the tariffs — the International Emergency Economic Powers Act — does not empower Trump to unilaterally impose tariffs.

“The President of the United States claims the authority to unilaterally levy tariffs on goods imported from any and every country in the world, at any rate, calculated via any methodology—or mere caprice—immediately, with no notice, or public comment, or phase-in, or delay in implementation, despite massive economic impacts that are likely to do severe damage to the global economy,” the lawsuit said.

While Trump cited the country’s trade deficits to justify the tariffs, the lawsuit argued that the longstanding trade deficits between the U.S. and its trading partners is not an “unusual and extraordinary threat” needed to declare an emergency.

“This Court should declare the President’s unprecedented power grab illegal, enjoin the operation of the executive actions that purport to impose these tariffs under the IEEPA, and reaffirm this country’s core founding principle: there shall be no taxation without representation,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit was filed in a New York-based federal court that adjudicates trade laws and brought by five small businesses, including a New York liquor distributor, a Utah-based plastic pipe company, a Virginia-based educational equipment company, a Pennsylvania fishing and tackle outfitter, and a Vermont-based brand of cycling apparel.

The lawsuit marks the second case to challenge Trump’s tariff and the first to specifically call into question the sweeping measures imposed on what Trump called “Liberation Day” earlier this month.

-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous and Katherine Faulders

Apr 14, 7:06 PM

White House moves toward pharmaceutical and semiconductor tariffs

The White House is taking steps to move towards implementing new tariffs on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, as Trump said earlier.

Copies of federal notices put online Monday show that the Department of Commerce initiated a public comment period for two Section 232 investigations of pharmaceutical and semiconductor-related products, including the machines used to make chips, and ingredients used for pharmaceutical production.

According to the notices, the investigation began on April 1.

The investigation itself does not implement tariffs, but could signal President Trump will move forward with new tariffs.

Trump has used Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 previously to implement tariffs on steel and aluminum imports as well.

-ABC News’ Molly Nagle

Apr 14, 5:57 PM

Bessent says tariff negotiations are ‘moving quickly’

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. is “moving quickly with many of our most important trading partners” and has meetings in coming days with Japan and South Korea.

“So, we had Vietnam in last week. We have Japanese in on Wednesday, South Korea next week. So, it’s going to move fast, and we but the important thing for your viewers to know is we’re setting up a process, and we are going to run the process,” Bessent said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Argentina.

It’s going to be orderly, and at the end of the day, especially for the most important trade partners, the president is going,” Bessent said.

Pressed on how many countries he expected the U.S. to strike a deal with before the 90-day pause is up, Bessent painted an optimistic, but vague picture.

“ I think there could be numerous countries, and it may not be the actual trade document, but we will have agreement in principle and be able to move forward from there,” Bessent said.

Pressed again for a general sense of how many countries they expected to get a deal with, Bessent again was vague.

“I think it’s going to depend, but we’re going to move with all deliberate speed. And again, it’s going to be a process. It’s going to be USTR, who just has mountains of data that they’ve been collecting over the years. Because, in a funny way, the tariffs are the easiest part. So a country with high tariffs, you can just say, ‘OK, this, this, this, this, get rid of it. It’s the non-tariff trade barriers that are more insidious, more difficult to spot, and it’s probably going to take a little longer,” he said.

Asked if he would be able to provide clarity once the 90 days are up, Bessent replied, “I think clarity is through the eye of the beholder, but I can guarantee you that we’re going to run a robust process, and I think the market can take great comfort in that,” Bessent said.

-ABC News’ Molly Nagle and Hannah Demissie

Apr 14, 2:33 PM

Trump says he might exempt auto parts from tariffs

President Donald Trump said Monday he’s considering tariff exemptions on imported components for U.S. auto manufacturers as they switch to parts manufactured in the U.S.

“I’m looking at something to help some of the car companies where they’re switching to parts that were made in Canada, Mexico and other places,” Trump said. “And they need a little bit of time. Because they’re going to make them here. But they need a little bit of time. So I’m talking about things like that.”

Tariffs of 25% on vehicles imported into the United States went into effect earlier this month. Tariffs of 25% on imported auto parts, including engines and electrical components, are set to go into effect later.

Apr 14, 1:32 PM

Trump: ‘I don’t blame China’

President Donald Trump said former President Joe Biden allowed China and other countries to “fleece us,” but he doesn’t blame China.

“I don’t blame China. I don’t blame Vietnam,” he said, referring to meetings on trade between the two countries on Monday.

“I see the meeting today, is that wonderful? That’s a lovely meeting. We’re meeting, like trying to figure out how do we screw the United States of America?” he said. “Don’t forget, the European Union was formed to do just that. The European Union was formed to hurt the United States and — and on trade, and to get us on NATO because they don’t pay their bills.”

Apr 14, 12:56 PM

Trump said he can be ‘flexible’ on tariffs

Asked about the exemptions from tariffs on some electronics that were announced over the weekend, President Donald Trump said he can be flexible but didn’t offer any specifics.

“Look, I’m a very flexible person. I don’t change my mind, but I’m flexible, and you have to be. You just can’t have a wall, and you’ll only go, you know, sometimes you have to go around it under it or above it,” he said. “There’ll be maybe things coming up. I speak to [Apple CEO] Tim Cook. I helped Tim Cook recently, and that whole business. I’m not –I don’t want to hurt anybody.”

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced late Friday night that smartphones, computers, chips and other electronics would be exempted from Trump’s reciprocal tariffs.
But Trump and his economic advisers stressed over the weekend that any reprieve would be temporary, with specific tariffs to be imposed on goods put under a new national security classification.

Apr 14, 12:37 PM

Trump says tariffs on pharmaceuticals are coming, but not when

President Donald Trump said he’ll impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals, but he wouldn’t say at what rate or when those would be implemented.

The president compared potential tariffs on pharmaceuticals to those he had imposed on other products.

“That’s going to be like we have on cars. We have us, you know, a 25% tariff on cars, we have a 25% tariff on steel. And aluminum,” he said on Monday while meeting with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.

Asked for a percentage or a timeline, Trump responded, “I have a timeline, yeah — not too distant future.”

Apr 14, 10:53 AM

WH adviser says there will be no exemptions, claims trade deal close with 10 countries

As President Donald Trump said exemptions placed on smartphones, computers and other electronics will be temporary, his top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, doubled down to ABC News’ Rachel Scott that everything will be covered.

When asked if there will be any exemptions on any electronics, Hassett said “what we’re talking about is coverage. And so what’s going to be covered? And pretty much everything’s going to be covered. The question is, which law applies.”

Hassett also claimed the Trump admin is close to finalizing a trade deal with more than 10 countries.

“I think that we’ve got more than 10 deals where there’s very, very good, amazing offers made to the US that USTR Trade Representative Jameson Greer and Howard Lutnick and the rest of our trade team and the President are stewing over whether those deals are good enough,” Hassett said Monday.

As the Trump administration is set to make an announcement soon, it is now weighing if it will announce the deals in a bundle or individually by country.

“The President will decide when he’s satisfied with the deal and when he wants to announce it, and how many all at once. But I can tell you, the progress has been astonishing,” Hassett said.

–ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh

Apr 14, 4:28 AM

Trump says semiconductor tariffs coming ‘in the not-distant future’

President Donald Trump, aboard Air Force One on Sunday night en route back to Washington, D.C., after a weekend in Florida, said there “shouldn’t be ambiguity” amid his administration’s repeated about-faces on tariffs.

He said semiconductor tariffs “will be in place in the not distant future” and that he would announce at what rate “over the next week.”

The president said on Saturday he would announce specifics on Monday.

Trump, when asked if he would declare tariffs on iPhones and tablets, said, “That’s going to be announced very soon” but that the administration is going to with companies about it because “you have to show a certain flexibility.”

-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow

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