The Trump administration is knee-deep into what officials call a “whole-of-government” approach to landing as many trade deals as possible before its 90-day tariff pause expires. The push is happening at the highest levels of government, with President Donald Trump getting personally involved in negotiations with allies like Japan and Italy.
But former and current U.S. trade officials tell NOTUS it’s highly unlikely that the staff at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, or USTR, has enough time or resources to secure traditional trade agreements, in which negotiations typically span months, if not years.
“Just scheduling all these initial negotiations in 90 days will be a formidable challenge,” said a former and longtime USTR negotiator. “Negotiating 75-plus bespoke trade deals in 90 days is unrealistic.”