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What does "will" add to the meaning of this sentence? Does it actually add the meaning of future tense?

Much more could and should be said about this, but the foregoing will have to suffice for now.

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    It's a figure of speech, "will have to suffice for now" = "meanwhile, it's been said enough about this"
    – Michael Login
    Commented Aug 19, 2018 at 16:40

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Using will have to implies that things are as they are out of necessity rather than choice. (Especially, in this case, because of the introductory could and should.)

In other words, the sentence could be rephrased as follows:

Much more could and should be said about this, but since we can't change anything right now, the foregoing is what we have to deal with at present.

Here, a (better) future situation is implied, but will is actually referring to forced events in the present—as determined by the use of for now.

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  • isn't ''forced" implied by "have to"?
    – Sasan
    Commented Aug 21, 2018 at 19:36
  • @user157323 My rephrasing of the sentence was meant as an alternative to using will. It means the same thing. So, yes. If you simply write the foregoing have to suffice for now it would be ungrammatical. (But, also, I was pointing out that will isn't an explicit reference to the future.)
    – Jason Bassford
    Commented Aug 21, 2018 at 19:47

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