"We`ll probably set one tariff for all of them," Trump said, adding that it could be "a little over 10 per cent tariff" on goods from at least 100 nations

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 US and would be relatively insignificant for addressing Trump`s goals of reducing trade imbalances with the rest of the world

The president has this month been posting letters to roughly two dozen countries and the European Union that simply levied a tariff rate to be charged starting August 1

Those countries generally faced tax rates on the goods close to the April 2 rates announced by the US president, whose rollout of historically high import taxes for the US caused financial markets to panic and led to Trump setting a 90-day negotiating period that expired July 9

Trump also said he would "probably" announce tariffs on pharmaceutical drugs at the "end of the month"