TMTPOST --   U.S.   President Donald   Trump   on   Wednesday previewed   letters dictating   tariffs on a large number   of countries.

Credit：China Central Television

Trump   at   the White   House   said   he would send letters to   more than   150   countries, informing   them of U.S. tariffs. "We ’ ll have well over 150 countries that we ’ re just going to send a notice of payment out, and the notice of payment is going to say what the tariff" rate will be, Trump told reporters.   He added that   countries   receiving these letter were   "not big countries, and they don ’ t do that much business."

Trump suggested sending   the aforementioned letters   can save   the   time for his   administration   to be engaged in   negotiations on tariffs   as the   recipient countries   are   those U.S. trading partners   with relatively smaller   trade volumes.   "The big one really is going to be on the 150 countries that we're really not negotiating with, and they're smaller — we don't do much business with,"   he said.

Trump   revealed later Wednesday   that   he would probably directly   setting 10%   or 15%   tariffs for these   countries.   "We ’ re going to put out one number"   to   nearly 150 countries, and the tariff rate would "be probably 10 or 15%, we haven ’ t decided yet,"   Trump said in an interview with Real America ’ s Voice broadcast.

Trump on Tuesday has   said that the United States   would soon inform   a group   of   minor   trading partners of   tariffs   higher   than 10%. "We ’ ll be releasing a letter soon talking about many countries that are much smaller, where you might not do an [ individual ] letter," Trump said after returning from Pittsburgh.

"We'll probably set one tariff for all of them," Trump said, adding that the tariff rate   could be "a little over 10% tariff" on goods from at least 100 nations.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick interjected that the nations with goods being taxed at these rates would be in Africa and the Caribbean, places that generally do relatively modest levels of trade with the U.S. and would be relatively insignificant for addressing Trump's goals of reducing trade imbalances with the rest of the world.

Trump on   Tuesday also disclosed   he could   impose impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals by August 1   and that levies on semiconductors could come soon as well. "Probably at the end of the month, and we ’ re going to start off with a low tariff and give the pharmaceutical companies a year or so to build, and then we ’ re going to make it a very high tariff," Trump said.

Trump said his timetable of   the   semiconductor   tariffs   was   similar to   the drug tariffs, and   it was "less complicated" to impose levies on chips.

Trump has so far released letters   to heads   of   more than 20 U.S. trading   partners, dictating new tariffs   starting August   1.

Trump on July 7   disclosed tariffs on 14 countries in a series of social media posts, hitting imports from Japan, South Korea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia,Tunisia, South Africa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Serbia, Thailand, Cambodia,Laos and Myanmar with tariffs ranging from 25% to 40%.

Trump on July 9   posted letters   to the leaders of   eight   countries on his social media   platform   Truth Social, informing   all   the goods imported   from the Philippines, Brunei, Moldova, Algeria, Iraq, Libya, Sri Lanka   and Brazil will face   tariffs ranging from 20% to   50%. A day later, Trump announced in the letter that he would slap Canada with 35% tariffs, and said 15% or 20% blanket tariffs would be imposed on all the remaining countries.   Trump on July 12 sent letter informing the European Union and Mexico of 30% tariffs.