President Trump recently boasted in an interview that he had secured “200 deals” on trade and tariffs. However, when pressed for specifics, two of his cabinet members were unable to name a single country involved in these supposed agreements. Despite Trump’s claim — made two weeks after announcing a 90-day suspension of his import tariffs — he refused to identify which nations had struck deals, asserting only that the pause was meant to allow negotiations to proceed, excluding China, which remained unaffected.
“I’ve made 200 deals, 100 percent,” Trump told Time magazine. If taken literally, this would imply nearly every country on earth had reached an agreement with the U.S.
When asked to elaborate, Trump offered a vague analogy, likening the U.S. to a department store where he sets the prices, insisting, “the deal is a deal that I choose.”
On CNN’s State of the Union, host Dana Bash asked Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to name one of the alleged deals. Rollins, while noting that she wasn’t personally involved in negotiations, suggested that several agreements were close to being finalized, but could not cite any completed deals. She claimed that 100 countries were “knocking on the door,” but admitted that nothing had been officially signed yet.
Trump’s assertion of having completed 200 deals appears increasingly dubious as tensions with China escalate. Following Trump’s tariff hikes on Chinese goods — reaching 145 percent — shipments between Asia and North America have been disrupted. China has retaliated with tariffs and export restrictions, while denying the Trump administration’s claims of ongoing talks. Chinese officials firmly stated that no consultations or negotiations on tariffs had occurred.
Pressed further, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent attempted to clarify Trump’s comments by suggesting the “200 deals” referred to “sub deals” within broader negotiations — but he too was unable to name any finalized agreements. Bessent claimed discussions were progressing with key trading partners, particularly in Asia, but acknowledged that actual deals had yet to materialize.
As the 90-day tariff suspension approaches its deadline, Trump’s claims of success remain unsupported by tangible results. Cabinet members’ struggles to substantiate his boasts point to what critics describe as growing disorganization and misinformation within the administration’s trade policy efforts.
