Trump to write tariff letters to 150 nations: Politico

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he intends to send a single letter telling more than 150 countries what tariff rate they will face.

"It's all going to be the same for everyone, for that group," Trump told reporters during a meeting with Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa at the White House, as reported by Politico, an American political digital newspaper.

"They're not big countries, and they don't do that much business. Not like the ones we've agreed with, like China, like Japan."

Currently, all countries are paying an additional baseline tariff of 10 percent that Trump set in April.

The US president has previously indicated the new baseline could be 15 to 20 percent but did not mention a specific tariff rate on Wednesday.

Trump has already sent out roughly two dozen letters informing individual trading partners like the European Union, Japan, and South Korea of the tariff rate they will face effective August 1, Politico also said.

That has set off an intense final stage of negotiations in which the targeted countries are trying to persuade the Trump administration to give them a more favourable deal.

At the same time, scepticism remains over whether the new tariff rates will take effect on August 1 because of the potential effect they could have on the economy and, ultimately, Trump's approval ratings.

Countries that accounted for more than 3 percent of the overall US trade deficit in 2024 and that have not yet received a letter include Taiwan, Switzerland, and India.

Trump sent mixed messages on Wednesday about reaching a deal with India, first saying: "We have another [deal] coming up, maybe with India. I don't know. We're in a negotiation." A few moments later, however, he said: "We're very close to a deal with India, where they open up."

Trump said the United States is continuing to negotiate with Japan, a major trading partner that he has threatened with a 25 percent tariff, but indicated he did not think a deal would be reached. "I think we'll probably live by the letter with Japan," he said.