Trump readies blanket tariffs as he brushes off inflation worries

President Donald Trump said Thursday he plans to impose blanket tariffs of 15% or 20% on most trade partners, dismissing concerns that further tariffs could negatively affect the stock market or drive inflation.

“We’re just going to say all of the remaining countries are going to pay, whether it’s 20% or 15%. We’ll work that out now,” Trump told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker in a phone call. Blanket tariffs are currently set at 10%.

“I think the tariffs have been very well-received. The stock market hit a new high today,” Trump added.

The S&P 500 closed at a record high Thursday, but that comes after a tumultuous few months for the U.S. stock market. After Trump announced his first wave of global tariffs on April 2, the S&P 500 experienced one of its fastest 20% drops on record over the following days.

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Trump on Thursday also dismissed warnings from Hasbro’s CEO that toy prices could rise later this year as a result of tariffs.

“If you look at the numbers, inflation’s gone down,” Trump said, later adding that Hasbro did not warn him its CEO was going to mention rising prices on a podcast.

According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation has eased in recent years since the Covid pandemic but remains above 2.3%.

“I don’t know. I didn’t hear anything about Hasbro. I don’t care about their prices,” Trump said, adding later, “But if they make their toys here, if they made their toys here, they wouldn’t have a price increase.”

Trump’s trade agenda has stalled in recent weeks as administration officials continue to insist that he is working on dozens of agreements with foreign nations.

This week, Trump publicized letters to 22 countries establishing tariff rates, including 50% tariffs on imports from Brazil. He also announced a 50% tariff on copper imports that is scheduled to take effect next month.

The dozens of letters come after repeated promises of “90 deals in 90 days” dating to April from Trump and his top officials. However, the administration did not sign any trading deals during that 90-day period. The White House and the secretaries of treasury and commerce instead reached three frameworks that could eventually be turned into full-fledged trade deals.

“Not everybody has to get a letter. You know that. We’re just setting our tariffs,” Trump told NBC News on Thursday.

But he added that the members of the European Union and Canada would get letters notifying them of new tariff rates “today or tomorrow.”

“I’d like to do it today,” Trump said, adding: “I’m talking European Union, which is, as you know, many countries, and Canada. We’ll be putting them out over the next couple of hours.”

Shortly after speaking with NBC News, Trump announced that he would apply a 35% tariff to Canadian imports starting next month, escalating a trade war that had recently shown signs of receding.

The 27 nations that make up the European Union are the United States’ largest trading partner. American companies and consumers imported more than $600 billion worth of goods from the E.U. last year. Canada also ranks as one of the most important trading relationships for the United States, with more than $400 billion worth of Canadian goods imported into the country last year.

Speaking Wednesday before the European Parliament, the E.U.’s top trade official, Maroš Šefčovič, said negotiations were happening between the two sides “every single day” to avoid getting one of Trump’s tariff letters.

“Crucially, while other nations faced increased tariffs from the United States, the result of the letters that President Trump sent out on Monday, our negotiations have spared the E.U. from facing higher tariffs,” he said.

The E.U. has more than $100 billion of retaliatory tariffs on standby that can be implemented quickly. Some of the retaliatory duties target goods made in red states, such as soybeans from House Speaker Mike Johnson’s home state, Louisiana, and bourbon from Kentucky.

‘A major statement’ on Russia

Trump also spoke about the status of Russia’s war with Ukraine, telling NBC News, “I’m disappointed in Russia, but we’ll see what happens over the next couple of weeks.”

“I think I’ll have a major statement to make on Russia on Monday,” he said, declining to elaborate.

He also revealed the details of what he said was a new deal among the United States, NATO and Ukraine over the shipment of weapons from the United States.

“We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%. So what we’re doing is the weapons that are going out are going to NATO, and then NATO is going to be giving those weapons [to Ukraine], and NATO is paying for those weapons,” Trump said.

He added that the deal was reached at a NATO summit last month.

“We send weapons to NATO, and NATO is going to reimburse the full cost of those weapons,” Trump said.

It was unclear whether Trump was referring to an idea that has recently been floated of some NATO members’ potentially buying U.S.-made weapons on behalf of Ukraine so the United States does not have to shoulder the cost.

Trump restarted the shipment of U.S. weapons to Ukraine this week after the Defense Department this month held up a scheduled shipment of weapons to the country at war with Russia.

The pause, ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, appeared to catch many in the Trump administration, including State Department officials, by surprise.

Asked Thursday about that weapons pause, Trump said, “I don’t know anything about it.” He added that Hegseth is “doing a great job.”

Trump has publicly expressed his disapproval of Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Wednesday, Russia unleashed a deadly strike and missile attack on Kyiv, appearing defiant against Trump’s warnings.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has for months been pushing GOP leaders, including Trump, to move on a bill he introduced that would impose new sanctions on Russia. In recent days, Graham signaled that the bill now has support from both Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.

Trump said Thursday that he expected the Senate to pass the sanctions measure. “It’s a bill that the Senate is passing that very respectfully lets the president do whatever he wants, as you know,” he said.

“In other words, it’s at my option if I want to use it. They’re going to pass a very major and very biting sanctions bill, but it’s up to the president as to whether or not he wants to exercise it,” he added.

Selling the One Big Beautiful Bill

Trump also spoke about whether he plans to travel across the country in the wake of congressional Republicans’ passing a massive domestic policy package — dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — saying he would travel “a little bit.”

“But honestly, it’s been received so well I don’t think I have to,” he added.

Trump signed the bill into law on Independence Day after months of negotiations among the president, congressional GOP leaders and rank-and-file Republican lawmakers.

The day the House passed the final version of the bill, sending it to Trump’s desk, he touted its passage at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, that was billed as a kickoff to the celebration of the United States’ 250th birthday next year.

The law extends the tax cuts passed and signed by Trump during his first term, in 2017, and imposes new temporary tax cuts on tips and overtime pay. It also provides hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending for border security and the military while imposing steep cuts to Medicaid, federal nutrition assistance programs and clean energy funding.

Democrats, who are looking to flip the House and the Senate back to their control during the 2026 midterm elections, have already seized on GOP lawmakers’ votes for the bill in battleground states and districts.

Trump dismissed concerns Thursday that Democrats could sway voters in their favor by highlighting the package’s cuts to Medicaid and other programs in the social safety net.

“They said that about 2024, too,” he said. “They’ve lost their minds, and they’ve lost their way.”

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin appeared on local and national news programs across the country this week, telling voters that their Republican representatives “betrayed” them by voting for the bill.

“This is, as I call it, the big, beautiful betrayal. All Republicans, every single one of them, put their oath to Donald Trump ahead of the oath to their constituents that they were elected by,” Martin told “PBS NewsHour” on Wednesday.