President Trump has vehemently defended the sweeping tariffs unveiled by his administration on what he dubbed “Liberation Day” last week, even as they threaten to spark a global trade war and have sent stock markets tumbling around the world.
In the United States, many are concerned about levies driving up the price of everyday goods, and Goldman Sachs economists on Monday cited them in a report raising the odds of a recession to 45%. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon cautioned the tariffs could slow the economy and “will likely increase inflation.”
Mr. Trump on April 2 announced a baseline 10% tax on all U.S. imports, plus additional “reciprocal” tariffs on imports from 90 countries. He pitched the tariffs as a strategy to reduce the trade deficit between the U.S. and other global powers, including China and the European Union.
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In addition to the baseline tax, Mr. Trump had said China would face a “reciprocal” levy of 34%, and in response to Beijing’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports, the president has threatened to impose an additional 50% tariff on China if it does not lift those duties by Tuesday.
As markets fall, and with his reciprocal import duties set to take effect on Wednesday, here’s what Mr. Trump has said about the tariffs.
No pause in tariffs
During a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr. Trump confirmed on Monday that he’s not looking at any pauses in tariffs. When reporters asked about mixed messages from his administration on whether the tariffs are permanent or open to negotiation, the president said “they both can be true.”
“We have many, many countries that are coming to negotiate deals with us, and they’re going to be fair deals,” Mr. Trump said. “No other president’s going to do this, what I’m doing.”
The president also said there are “other things besides tariffs” that could be open to negotiation, like other countries’ “standards and tests” that Mr. Trump said make trading more difficult, but he didn’t provide further details.
“Hang tough”
In a Truth Social post on Saturday as his 10% universal tariffs took effect, Mr. Trump urged Americans to “hang tough” and acknowledged things “won’t be easy.”
“China has been hit much harder than the USA, not even close. They, and many other nations, have treated us unsustainably badly,” he wrote.
“We have been the dumb and helpless ‘whipping post,’ but not any longer. We are bringing back jobs and businesses like never before. Already, more than FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS OF INVESTMENT, and rising fast! THIS IS AN ECONOMIC REVOLUTION, AND WE WILL WIN. HANG TOUGH, it won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic. We will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
“Sometimes you have to take medicine”
Mr. Trump doubled down on his trade position while speaking to reporters on Sunday on Air Force One, making clear he did not intend to budge on the reciprocal tariffs set to take effect later this week, nor the universal levies already implemented.
Addressing the U.S. market plunge that followed his April 2 announcement — Wall Street’s worst in five years — and seemingly preparing Americans for more potential market pain to come, the president said, “I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”
“What’s going to happen with the market I can’t tell you, but I can tell you our country has gotten a lot stronger,” Mr. Trump added.
He also said various world leaders had expressed interest in negotiating to roll back tariffs as global markets, reacting to the levies, began to nosedive, too.
“I spoke to a lot of leaders, European, Asian, from all over the world,” Mr. Trump said. “They’re dying to make a deal. And I said, we’re not going to have deficits with your country. We’re not going to do that, because to me a deficit is a loss. We’re going to have surpluses or at worst, going to be breaking even.”
Echoing Mr. Trump’s sentiment, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick suggested the administration would not waver on the new round of tariffs, in an interview on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday. Arguing the policies will help protect U.S. factories and “reset the power of the United States of America,” Lutnick acknowledged that “it is going to be a big change.”
“This is the moment that the United States of America takes hold of itself, and Donald Trump has been talking about this his whole life,” Lutnick said. “This is Donald Trump’s agenda, and we’re all here to help him execute.”
“Don’t be a PANICAN (A new party based on Weak and Stupid people!)”
In the hour before trading opened on Wall Street Monday, the president took to Truth Social to support his flurry of tariffs and appeared to coin a new Trump-ism referencing panic.
“The United States has a chance to do something that should have been done DECADES AGO,” Mr. Trump said in the post. “Don’t be Weak! Don’t be Stupid! Don’t be a PANICAN (A new party based on Weak and Stupid people!). Be Strong, Courageous, and Patient, and GREATNESS will be the result!”
He posted as international markets were experienced significant losses, with indices in Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, Shanghai, South Korea, Taiwan and Tokyo all dropping. U.S. markets went on to have a roller-coaster day, with the S&P 500 ending down a modest 12 points, or 0.2%, at 5,062, the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing 349 points, or 0.9%, while the Nasdaq Composite eked out a small gain, rising 15 points to close up 0.1%.
Additional tariffs on China
Mr. Trump vowed on Monday to raise duties imposed on China to 50% beginning Wednesday, after Beijing issued retaliatory tariffs of 34% on the U.S. over the weekend.
On Truth Social, the president said Beijing had acted despite his previous “warning” that the U.S. would only respond to retaliatory tariffs with even higher taxes for the issuing country, and urged its leaders to withdraw the 34% increase by Tuesday or face higher costs.
“Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!” Mr. Trump said. “Negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”