President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have been boasting that 75 countries contacted the Trump administration hoping to cut a trade deal—but the White House is keeping its lips zipped on which countries have reached out. “It has brought more than 75 countries forward to negotiate–it took great courage, great courage for him (Trump) to stay the course until this moment—and what we have ended up with here, as I told everyone a week ago in this very spot, ‘do not retaliate and you will be rewarded,‘" Bessent said outside the White House on Wednesday as the world learned of Trump’s shocking U-turn. But, according to NBC News, after multiple requests for information on which countries had made contact, the White House said it will not release more details. The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment. Trump said Wednesday on Truth Social that he would pause tariffs on “more than 75 countries” for 90 days. He later claimed the number was, in fact, “many more than 75″ who want to negotiate a trade deal. “We don’t want to hurt countries that don’t need to be hurt,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
.@SecScottBessent: "Do not retaliate and you will be rewarded. So every country in the world wants to come and negotiate. We are willing to hear you. We are going to go down to a 10% baseline tariff for them and China will be raised to 125% due to their insistence on escalation." pic.twitter.com/dA2HnbmE0M
