Tariffs, Trump: first 12 letters at 18, new rates from 1 August. Mattarella: 'EU is an open trade network'

Donald Trump confirmed on his social Truth that today at 12 noon local time (6pm in Italy) he will start sending the first letters on tariffs and trade agreements, ahead of the deadline for the suspended taxes to take effect. The US president also assures additional tariffs of 10% against Brics-aligned countries. There will be 12 letters today, but the recipient countries are not yet known.

"Most countries" will be settled by 9 July "either with a letter or with an agreement," The Donald stated, specifying that the first letters will leave later today, "others on Tuesday (8 July, ed.). It will be a mix of letters and some agreements already made," the president added. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick reiterated that the tariffs announced in the letters will start on 1 August. "The tariffs will start on 1 August but the president sets them now.".

"We will announce several trade agreements over the next 48 hours," confirmed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in an interview with Cnbc, emphasising that the important thing is not the quantity of the agreements but the quality. Still on the subject of tariffs, Bessent outlined the next US moves. "I will meet," he said in the interview, "with my Chinese counterpart in the coming weeks. "My email is full of new offers" on the trade front, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent added.

The Danish presidency has reportedly convened a meeting of the Coreper, with the permanent representatives of the member states, at 17:30 today to discuss the status of the EU-US talks on tariffs. The meeting will be in a restricted format, without electronic devices.

Trump then threatened to impose additional tariffs of 10% on countries that support the policies pursued by the Brics group and assured: "There will be no exceptions". There was immediate condemnation from the Brics leaders, meeting in Rio de Janeiro, who criticised the "indiscriminate" import tariffs imposed by the US Administration and the recent Israeli-US attacks on Iran.