Crypto Market Rises as U.S. Treasury Secretary Hints at Trade Deals Before Tariffs Deadline

Bitcoin briefly surpassed $109,000 on Sunday, leading gains across major cryptocurrencies such as XRP, Solana’s SOL, and dogecoin, fueled by optimism over potential U.S. trade agreements.

This surge followed comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who indicated that several trade deals might be concluded before the critical “Liberation Day” tariff deadline on July 9.

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, increased more than 1%, momentarily pushing past $109,000. Meanwhile, XRP and Solana’s SOL token each advanced over 2%, while popular meme coin dogecoin (DOGE) climbed 3% to trade at $0.1697, based on CoinDesk data. Ethereum’s ether, the second-biggest cryptocurrency, also rose 1.5% to reach $2,550.

In an interview with CNN, Bessent shared that the U.S. is on track to finalize several trade deals before July 9—the date when the temporary pause on tariff increases announced on April 2 will expire.

“President Trump will be sending letters to some of our trading partners, warning that if they don’t move forward with negotiations, tariffs will revert to the April 2 levels starting August 1,” Bessent said, according to Reuters. “So I believe we’ll see a number of deals materialize quickly.”

Bessent emphasized that negotiations need to conclude by July 9 to avoid higher tariffs returning on August 1.

“We’re putting our foot down on the timeline. If countries want to speed things up, that’s great. If they’d rather return to the old tariff rates, that’s their decision,” Bessent told CNN, mentioning that some trading partners were “dragging their feet” in discussions.

Since resuming office earlier this year, President Donald Trump has stepped up his economic agenda by imposing new tariffs on imports. The administration sees tariffs as a strategy to balance global trade relationships and reduce America’s trade deficit.

On April 2, Trump announced sweeping tariffs, including a 10% base tax on all trading partners, alongside even higher rates for certain nations, reaching as much as 50%. Initially, the news sparked panic in financial markets, causing U.S. stock indices to drop and bitcoin to fall to around $75,000.

Fears of economic turmoil prompted the administration to pause the new tariffs for 90 days about a week later.

Since then, signs of U.S. exceptionalism have reappeared in financial markets, lifting U.S. stock indices to new highs. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have outperformed global markets, while bitcoin has staged a strong recovery, consistently trading above the $100,000 level.