Trump Signals He Might Lower 145% Tariffs on China
President Donald Trump seemed to say April 17 he doesn’t intend to raise tariffs on China further, and that he might actually be looking to lower them.
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“So I may not want to go higher or I may not even want to go up to that level,” he said while taking questions in the Oval Office. “I may want to go to less, because, you know, you want people to buy.”
It wasn’t clear whether he was referring to China’s tariffs on the U.S. or the U.S. tariffs on China. He had responded to a reporter asking whether he believed Chinese officials’ statements that China wouldn’t continue to hike up its U.S. tariff rates above 125%. But he seemed to misunderstand, correcting her that the tariff rate was 145% “because you’re up to 20%.” That 145% is the base rate of U.S. tariffs on China, composed of a 125% reciprocal tariff and a 20% tariff “to address the fentanyl crisis.”
Although Trump refused to say whether he’d spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping since the imposition of tariffs totaling 145%, he claimed it was “pretty obvious” Xi had reached out to him directly, and said he expects a deal soon.
“I believe we’re going to have a deal with China,” he said. “And if we don’t, we’re going to have a deal anyway, because we’re going to set a certain target, and that’s going to be it.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, standing beside Trump, said that the tariff policy had “every country in the world coming in and talking to us.” He called it “incredible.”