Commerce Secretary says US is close to first tariff deal, days after Trump bragged he already had 200 deals

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has teased that the U.S. is very close to its first tariff deal – but declined to name the country involved.

And he’s still waiting to hear from the leaders of the country for the final sign off, he told CNBC Tuesday.

That could be a surprise to President Donald Trump, who boasted in an interview with Time magazine last Thursday that he had already struck 200 deals.

“I’ve made 200 deals,” he told Time.

“You’ve made 200 deals?” he was asked.

He responded: “100 percent.” Yet he refused to name any countries.

Lutnick told CNBC: “I have a deal done, done, done, done — but I need to wait for their prime minister and their parliament to give its approval, which I expect shortly.”

The secretary and other members of President Donald Trump’s administration have signaled progress is being made on tariffs but have yet to announce a single specific deal nearly a month after “Liberation Day,” when Trump revealed the imposition of a 10 percent across-the-board tariff on countries, plus a n additional supplemental levy depending on America’s relationship with various trading partners.

Trump then paused tariffs beyond the basic 10 percent, but not for China, which currently has a 145 percent tariff on all goods. Tariffs are starting to impact the bottom lines of the country’s largest businesses.

Amazon officials reportedly toyed with the idea of displaying tariff prices before the White House called it a “hostile political act.” A company spokesperson later said the idea was “never approved and is not going to happen.”

Small business owners who rely on China for imported products are grappling with whether to shut down or weather the storm.

Earlier on Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declined to comment on whether he was in talks with China.

Trump had told Time that China President Xi Jinping had called him to talk tariffs. The Chinese Embassy, however, later refuted his remarks and instructed Trump to “stop creating confusion.”

Bessent did state that consumers may be able to expect announcements on India in the near future, the terms of which he said were easier to negotiate than other countries.

When asked if any deals have been made, Bessent continued: “I’m not going to get ahead of the president. Nothing’s done until President Trump announces it ... So we should wait to hear from President Trump over the next couple of days.”

The US is currently also in advanced talks with Japan, he added.

The S&P closed higher after the comments, but is still below February highs. A trade deal could potentially send a wave of money back into the market, shooting stocks up as confidence remains low.