Donald Trump promised 90 trade deals in 90 days. That deadline has come and gone — and when asked what happened, he gave a response that left people stunned, confused, and, in many cases, laughing in disbelief.
On Monday, a reporter pressed Trump to explain why his administration hadn’t delivered on the promise he made during his so-called “Liberation Day” in April — that the U.S. would secure 90 trade deals with foreign countries within 90 days.
Instead of giving a clear answer, Trump launched into a rambling, self-congratulatory speech that veered wildly from topic to topic, contradicted itself, and ultimately boiled down to this: no real deals — just letters.
Here’s what he said, word for word:
“Oh, we’ve spoken to everybody. We know every. It’s all done. I told you. I told you we’ll make some deals, but for the most part we’re gonna send a letter. We’re gonna say, ‘Welcome to the United States. If you’d like to participate in the greatest, most successful country ever.’ I mean, we’re doing better than ever. We have. I don’t think. And you’re gonna see these numbers soon. We’ve never had numbers like this. We’ve never had investment like this. Uh, we have more than 90. We’re gonna have much more than 90. But most of those are gonna be sent a letter. This is exactly what I said. Now, we’ve made a deal with United Kingdom. We’ve made a deal with China. We’ve made a deal. We’re close to making a deal with India. Others, we’ve met with, and we don’t think we’re gonna be able to make a deal. So, we just send them a letter. ‘Do you wanna, do you wanna play ball? This is what you have to pay.’ So, we’re, as far as I’m concerned, we’re done. We’re sending out letters to various countries, telling them how much tariffs they have to pay. Some will maybe adjust a little bit depending if they have a, you know, cause. We’re not gonna be unfair about it. And actually, it’s a small fraction compared to what we should be getting. We should be. We could be asking for much more. But for the sake of relationships that we’ve had with a lot of really good countries, we’re doing the way I do it. But we could be getting a lot more. We could ask for a lot more than what we’re asking for.”
In short, the 90 deals Trump promised? They don’t seem to exist. What we got instead was bluster, contradictions—and a whole lot of gibberish.
The clip spread fast — and reactions online were brutal:
Reporter: What happened to 90 deals in 90 days?
Trump: Oh, we’ve spoken to everyone. We have more than 90. We’re going to have much more than 90 but most of those are going to be sent a letter pic.twitter.com/e6bWwFYFkz
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 7, 2025
Journalist Ron Filipkowski posted: “So sending out letters are the ‘deals’? What a shit show.”
User @nikosunity wrote: “Sending a letter isn’t a deal. It’s barely a beginning. Trump’s counting outreach as outcome and that’s just theatrics.”
Another user, @AntiToxicPeople, said: “If this wasn’t SO incredibly pathetic & embarrassing to the entire country and our standing across the world, it would be hilarious.”
@DjOmegaMVP broke it down simply: “TRANSLATION: We got ZERO DEALS, but I will continue to lie about it until it becomes a reality.”
@vikihoskins summed it up with a string of laughing emojis: “🤣🤣🤣 Sure buddy.”
