1 week Ago
US President Donald Trump says that any reduction in tariffs placed on China will depend on the actions of its leaders. "It depends on China how soon the tariffs can come down," he said speaking in the Oval Office on Wednesday. There are no winners in a US-China trade war.
The question is which country can endure the most pain and emerge with the least damage. He added that he expected to strike a deal and set the final tariff figure on China over the next two or three weeks. Earlier this week, , but did not clarify by how much.
Mr Trump placed import taxes of 145 per cent on China, which countered with 125 per cent tariffs on US goods. saying the Trump administration should stop trying to bully and blackmail its trading partner. It said US tariffs defied "basic economic laws and common sense".
The White House is open to discussing a significant rate cut on Chinese imports in order to advance negotiations with Beijing but will not do so alone, according to a person familiar with the conversations. China says the Trump administration should stop trying to bully its trade partner. That person would not say how low the White House might be willing to go, but the A White House spokesperson dismissed any reports as "pure speculation" and said news on tariffs would come from Trump himself.
Clarity on tariffs might take months US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that high tariffs between the United States and China were not sustainable. Mr Trump confirmed to reporters on Wednesday that he was in direct contact with China and President Xi "every day". Despite that, there remains little clarity on a deal being struck between the two nations.
Mr Bessent said the third quarter of this year was a "reasonable estimate" for achieving clarity on the ultimate level of Trump's tariffs. In addition to the steep tariffs on China, Mr Trump has also imposed a blanket 10 per cent tariff on all other US imports and higher duties on steel, aluminium and autos. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says clarity on the tariffs could take months.
He has suspended targeted tariffs on dozens of other countries until July 9 and floated additional industry-specific levies on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors. That has roiled financial markets and raised fears of recession. and push debt higher across the globe.
S&P Global found that US business activity slowed to a 16-month low in April while prices charged for goods and services soared. The Federal Reserve said it found economic activity in the United States to be steady over the past month, despite "pervasive" uncertainty around trade. The central bank's survey found a drop in international visitors in some areas, and the outlook in several of the Fed's 12 regional districts "worsened considerably.
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