White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that as the 90-day pause deadline approaches this week, “the rough outlines of the deals are becoming clear.” “We’re going to send a letter, but maybe you get a deal at the last minute too. Until we see everything that plays out, I think that we need to just hold our fire and watch for the news this week,” he told CBS’s Weijia Jiang.

KEVIN HASSETT: On trade, there’s going to be quite a bit of news this week. And, I think, the headline of the news is that there are going to be deals that are finalized. There are a whole number that Jameson Greer has negotiated with foreign governments, and then they’re going to be letters that are sent to countries saying, here’s how we think it ought to go, because the deals aren’t advanced enough. And the headline is going to be that countries are agreeing around the world to open their markets up to our products, and to allow us to put some kind of tariff on their products when they come into the US. At exactly what the numbers will be, will be things that you’ll find out in the news this week,. WEIJA JIANG: Kevin, you said there are going to be deals. For those really important trading partners, if there’s not a deal by Wednesday, is the President going to extend this pause? KEVIN HASSETT: You know, the United States is always willing to talk to everybody about everything that’s going on in the world. And there are deadlines, and there are things that are close, and so maybe things will push back the dead- past the deadline, or maybe they want- in the end, the President’s going to make that judgment. WEIJA JIANG: And you also mentioned those letters that will start going out tomorrow, according to President Trump. He said about 10 to 12 countries will receive them. Do you- can you tell us who’s going to get one and what they say? KEVIN HASSETT: Because, again, the part of the letter that could be happening right is that we’re close to a deal, we’re not really satisfied with the progress that we’re making at the deal, and so we’re saying, okay, fine, we’re going to send a letter, but maybe you get a deal at the last minute too. Until we see everything that plays out, I think that we need to just hold our fire and watch for the news this week. WEIJA JIANG: Is it fair to say that those notices are going to go to our smaller trading partners, as you negotiate with our bigger ones? KEVIN HASSETT: I think that it could be that it’ll be both. But also, don’t forget, that when we have great trade deals, our smaller trading partners could become much bigger trading partners. And that’s, I think, one of the reasons why countries are racing to set deals up with us ahead of the deadline.

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