Trump shrugs off July tariff deadline: ‘We can do whatever we want’

President Donald Trump said Friday he may not stick to the deadline in early July when massive U.S. tariffs are set to snap back into effect on a slew of countries.

“No, we can do whatever we want,” Trump said at the White House when asked if his deadline was set in stone. “We could extend it. We could make it shorter.”

The question had specifically been about July 9, the deadline for the U.S. and the European Union to negotiate a trade deal or else trigger a 50% tariff on EU imports to take effect.

But the president’s answer appeared to refer to a July 8 deadline when a three-month pause on his self-described “reciprocal tariffs” on many nations ends, sending country-specific tariff rates back up to their initial, much higher levels.

Despite Trump’s apparent flexibility as to the dates, the executive order he signed on April 9 is not flexible unless it’s formally updated.

That order reduced Trump’s country-specific tariffs down to a rate of 10% across the board for 90 days, and specified that the temporary reprieve would only last for three months.

Unless Trump revises his order, the sweeping tariffs will return to their sky-high rates in 12 days.