President Donald Trump on Sunday said some trade deals had been made with trading partners and letters would go out to other countries notifying them of higher tariff rates.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters that the higher tariffs would take effect on Aug. 1, but Trump was "setting the rates and the deals right now."
Trump in April announced a 10 percent base tariff rate on most countries and higher additional rates ranging up to 50 percent, although he later delayed the effective date for all but 10 percent until July 9. Lutnick's comments indicate a three-week reprieve.
In a posting on his Truth Social website, Trump later said the United States would start delivering tariff letters from 12 pm ET on Monday.
Earlier on Sunday, Bessent told CNN that the administration is "close to several deals" and is focusing on 18 critical trading partners that account for roughly 95 percent of the U.S. trade deficit.
"As always, there's a lot of foot-dragging on the other side, and so I would expect to see several big announcements over the next couple of days," he said.
Bessent said he would not name the countries because he does not "want to let them off the hook" until the deals are finalized.
Trump would also send letters to 100 smaller countries with which the United States does not have much trade, notifying them of higher tariff rates, he added.
"President Trump's going to be sending letters to some of our trading partners saying that if you don't move things along, then on August 1 you will boomerang back to your April 2 tariff level," Bessent said.
"So I think we're going to see a lot of deals very quickly."
Trump had originally given U.S. trading partners until July 9 to negotiate deals with his administration or see a return of tariffs at the level imposed in early April, when the president levied significant baseline and varying reciprocal tariffs on all nations that trade with the United States.
The president has said his team has already reached tentative trade agreements with India, China, and the UK. Deals with Canada, Mexico, the European Union, and Japan are still pending.