TMTPOST -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened the hefty reciprocal tariffs will return if countries fail to reach a deal with his administration within the 90-day period of pause, though he refused to rule out further pause on the sweeping tariffs.
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Credit：Xinhua News Agency
“If we can’t make the deal that we want to make or we have to make or that’s, you know, good for both parties — it’s got to be good for both parties — then we go back to where we were,” Trump told reporters at a cabinet meeting on Thursday. But when asked about if that means he would not extend the pause, Trump said, “We’ll have to see what happens.”
Trump replied “it’s very close” when questioned on where his administration is on striking a deal with the first foreign nation on tariffs, not specifying a deal with which country would be the closest.
Trump made the remarks as the U.S. stock market retreated following an epic rally on his decision to grant a 90-day pause on most reciprocal tariffs on Wednesday. The president conceded there may be transition problems as market sell-off resumed. “We think we’re in very good shape. We think we’re doing very well. Again, there’ll be a transition cost and transition problems, but in the end, it’s going to be a beautiful thing," said Trump.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said the U.S. has “explicit” trade deal offers from about 15 countries. “And (the United States Trade Representative) has informed us that there are maybe 15 countries now that have made explicit offers that we’re studying and considering and deciding whether they’re good enough to present to the President,” Hassett added. The Trump's top economic advisor expected “quite a movement” of world leaders into the White House in the upcoming weeks.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that as tariff negotiations develop, “we will end up in a place of great certainty over the next 90 days.” Bessent later Thursday posted on X he met with Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc of Vietnam with a picture of the pair as he began trade talks with the country.
Trump said all countries are different when it comes to negotiations over tariffs, but he treated the European Union as a bloc, instead of individual countries. “They’ve been very tough, but they were very smart. They were ready to announce retaliation, and then they heard about what we did with respect to China and others, but China, and they said, ‘You know, we’re going to hold back a little,’” said Trump, referring to the EU’s decision to suspend its retaliatory tariffs after Trump announced tariff pause.
The EU members on Wednesday have voted in favour of the European Commission's proposal to introduce trade countermeasures against tariffs on steel and aluminum imports imposed by the United States.The European Commission estimated a total of nearly €21 billion worth of goods imported from the U.S. will be affected. The countermeasures will be adopted in three tranches. Duties covering €3.9 billion of U.S. imports are set to start being collected on April 15, next Tuesday, followed by measures hitting €13.5 billion of U.S. goods from mid-May, and the final round of €3.5 billion will come on December 1.
Trump said later Wednesday in the post he has authorized a 90-day pause and “a substantially lowered reciprocal tariff” of 10% during this period, both effective immediately. The decision was made as more than 75 countries have called Greer and the relevant government agencies to negotiate a solution to trade, trade barriers, tariffs, currency manipulation, and non-monetary tariffs, and these countries have not retaliated against the U.S., Trump wrote.
The White House clarified that Trump’s announcement of a 90-day pause on tariffs means that the “tariff level will be brought down to a universal 10% tariff” during that time, while “negotiations are ongoing.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement on Thursday the EU will put its countermeasures over U.S. tariffs on hold for 90 days. But she still cautioned U.S. higher tariffs on the EU. “If negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in. Preparatory work on further countermeasures continues,” head of the EU executive branch said. “As I have said before, all options remain on the table.”
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