“The USTR told us that there may be 15 countries now making clear offers and we are studying, considering and deciding whether they are excellent enough to present the president,” Hassett told reporters at the White House.
Hassett said the principal in the government’s trade policy will be held at the White House later Thursday to “make sure that it’s the most important country to get it to the end is the country we bring first.”
He said he expects a lot of action on the trade deal over the next three or four weeks. “Now it’s a very, very fast process, it didn’t start today or yesterday. It started a long time ago,” he said.
“There is a lot of transaction inventory,” Hassett told CNBC earlier.
Trump’s turntable on Wednesday was less than 24 hours after most trading partners caused new tariffs, and has since been the most intense financial market volatility since Covid-19-19 was in trouble. Stock market turmoil removed trillions of dollars from the stock market and led to a growing government bond yield, causing a growing US bond yield.
