The president extended his pause on so-called “reciprocal tariffs” on U.S. trading partners till August 1 and indicated that the new deadline was not set in stone.

The country’s new president, in office for a little over a month, had just dispatched his senior deputies to Washington to try to work out a trade deal.

New vehicles from the Japanese auto makers Subaru and Honda are seen at a parking lot in the Port of Richmond, as trade tensions escalate after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would impose a 25% tariff on goods from Japan and South Korea starting on August 1,