[CTC] Commerce secretary says he has a trade deal, but declines to name country

[Arthur Stamoulis]

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/29/commerce-secretary-lutnick-trade-deal-unnamed-country-approval.html


Commerce secretary says he has a trade deal, but declines to name country

The Trump administration has a trade deal in place, Commerce Secretary
Howard Lutnick told CNBC today — though he declined to name the country.

“I have a deal, done, done, done, done, but I need to wait for their prime
minister and their parliament to give its approval, which I expect
shortly,” Lutnick said in the interview. “I’m not going to tell you what
country. I’m going to let the president decide (when to announce it).”

The news of a potential trade deal, though still officially unannounced,
sent stocks modestly higher this afternoon. The Dow gained roughly 200
points on the news and was last up nearly 400 points, or 1%. The broader
S&P 500 rose 0.7%.

Over the past several days the Trump administration has hinted at numerous
potential trade deals in the works. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
earlier today said he is in active discussions with 17 nations. Yesterday,
Bessent said a deal with India
<https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-presidency-news-04-29-25#cma2ihyh200053b6twpabb9k2>
would
likely be announced the end of this week or beginning of next week. He has
also said deals with Japan and South Korea are close.

But other than a mysterious statement
<https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/28/politics/tariffs-economy-100-days-trump/index.html>
from
President Donald Trump in a Time interview last week, in which he said he
had “made 200 deals” before appearing to acknowledge that they’re not
actually done yet, Lutnick’s comments were the first suggestion that a
trade deal may already be done.

“Treasury Secretary Bessent is focused on China. That’s his, that’s his
portfolio. He’s got to get something done with China. And my portfolio is
the rest of the world’s trade deals. So they are coming,” Lutnick said.
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