WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and his White House on Tuesday projected confidence in the state of trade negotiations with other countries, including China, nearly two weeks after pausing much of his sweeping tariff proposal to allow for dealmaking.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office after a ceremony to swear in Paul Atkins as the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Trump rejected the idea that he would play “hardball” with China on trade negotiations and said the final fee on imports into the U.S. from the country wouldn’t be “anywhere near” the 145% level it currently sits at amid an ongoing trade war.
“I'm not going to say: ‘Oh, I'm going to play hardball with China,’ I'm going to play a hard ball with you, President Xi,” Trump insisted.
He went on to say that the 145% tariff currently placed on Chinese imports would “come down substantially.”
The level was reached after Trump levied duties on the country first in an effort to curb fentanyl coming into the U.S. and then as part of his far-reaching plan to balance trade relationships. The tariff on China was the only “reciprocal” one that was not subject to the pause Trump then implemented a week later. The rate rose as the U.S. and China levied higher fees on imports on each other in response, escalating the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
At the same time, Trump insisted in the Oval Office that the new rate will not be 0% and declared that if China refuses to make a deal, the U.S. will set one for them.
“I think we're going to live together very happily and ideally work together,” Trump said. “So I think it's going to work out very well. But no, it's at 145%, [it] will not be anywhere near that number.”
Trump’s comments came hours after Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at Tuesday’s press briefing that the U.S. was “setting the stage for a deal with China.”
“We feel everyone involved wants to see a trade deal happen and the ball is moving in the right direction,” she added.
More broadly, Leavitt told reporters that the administration now has 18 proposals “on paper” for new trade deals with other countries. Members of the president’s trade team, she added, are meeting with 34 nations this week alone to discuss new agreements.
Last week, Trump himself said he joined a meeting with his Treasury and Commerce secretaries and trade representatives for Japan, touting “big progress” afterward. He also sat down with the leader of Italy and spoke over the phone with the president of Mexico on the topic.
Trump in the Oval Office, meanwhile, acknowledged the country was in a “transition period” that will last a “little while.” Nonetheless, he declared “we’re doing really well,” specifically pointing to the stock market on Tuesday, which rallied after falling sharply on Monday.
“We're doing really well,” Trump said. “I see the stock market was up nicely. But this is a transition period, and it's going to be a little while, but we are doing well with every country.”
The comments came after the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday announced lower outlooks for growth in the global and U.S. economies after Trump’s tariff announcements.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has also warned Trump’s tariff plans could worsen inflation. Despite railing against Powell in recent days for not lowering interest rates, the president in the Oval Office on Tuesday said he does not nor ever did have any intention of seeking to oust the federal reserve chair.
