Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick expressed confidence Sunday that the Trump administration will cut trade deals with key U.S. trading partners in the coming weeks — before steep tariffs kick in for dozens of countries.

That rate is lower than the 24% that Trump threatened Japan with on April 2 and the 25% that he said he would hit Japanese imports with in a letter on July 7. Before Trump's current term, the effective U.S. tariff rate on Japanese imports was less than 2%, according to World Bank data.

April 9: Trump's higher "reciprocal tariffs" begin just after midnight. Hours later, the president says he is issuing a 90-day pause on those duties, except for China. Trump raises tariffs on Chinese goods from 104% to 145%, the highest rate so far this year.

With less than two weeks to go before country-specific tariffs could rise sharply, the Trump administration is drawing a lot of questions about what’s ahead.

The Trump administration is more concerned with the quality of trade agreements rather than their timing, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday ahead of an Aug. 1 deadline for securing a trade deal or facing steep tariffs.

This week’s Fresh Take also looks at tariff-proof yaupon tea, an L.A. fire survivor’s insurance nightmare, a farmworker’s death in connection to an ICE raid and more.

During a faith luncheon at the White House several days ago, Donald Trump slipped up and carelessly admitted he doesn't want any trade deals or negotiations and instead wants to unconditionally force tariffs on other countries.

There is no single way to predict how businesses will price items weeks or months into the future as, in addition to tariffs, they are influenced by things like consumer demand, sales strategies, and supply chains.