Karoline Leavitt Admits Trump Is Begging Leaders to Make Trade Deals
We’ve come a long way from “90 deals in 90 days.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt inadvertently admitted Tuesday that Donald Trump, having failed to make any actual trade deals with other countries, has resorted to pleading with world leaders to come to the negotiating table.
Reuters reported earlier in the day that the administration has sent a letter to multiple countries urging them to provide their best offer on tariff negotiations by Wednesday. In a draft seen by Reuters, the U.S. asks countries to provide their best proposals in key areas, including quota offers to purchase American products and plans to resolve any non-tariff barriers. It is not clear which countries received the letter.
When asked in a press briefing about the letter, Leavitt said she could “confirm the merits in the content of the letter.”
The U.S. trade representative “sent this letter to all of our trading partners just to give them a friendly reminder that the deadline is coming up,” she said.
Leavitt said that multiple officials are currently engaged in trade talks, and that “this letter was simply to remind these countries that the deadline is approaching and the president expects good deals.”
we're gone from "90 deals in 90 days" to sending letters to other countries pleading with them to negotiate pic.twitter.com/wounb2Hzqr
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 3, 2025
The Trump administration has come a long way from promising to make 90 deals during the 90-day pause on Trump’s sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs. So far, only one actual deal has emerged, with the U.K.—and when Trump announced that deal, it sounded more like the concepts of a plan than an actual agreement.
The administration was also in talks with China, but those negotiations have publicly (and dramatically) stalled. As for other countries, they appear to be biding their time. Many countries reportedly saw that Beijing’s tough negotiating strategy landed them a much better deal, indicating that waiting for Trump to suffer backlash for the tariffs at home and ultimately cave is a better tactic than trying to reach a compromise with him.
It’s unclear how much longer Trump’s tariffs will be in place. Last week, two separate courts ruled that his tariff policy is illegal. The administration is appealing at least one of those rulings.