Despite massive global stock market crash on Monday after imposing tariff hikes on 60 countries as part of Liberation Day rollouts, US President Donald Trump firmly ruled out the possibility of any pause in his reciprocal tariffs plan.
The president's comments came during a meeting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office.
It has been reported that defending his economic policy to ensure fare trade practices Trump said tariffs were "very important" to his economic agenda and that they would remain in place. While he emphasised that the tariffs would stay, Trump was open to "fair deal and good deals with every country", according to a Business Today report.
As of now, 10 per cent tariff on imports from all countries is already in effect. Answering questions on whether it would be possible for countries to reduce their tariffs below the flat 10% baseline and said, “tariffs will make this country very rich.”
US-China Tariff Game
In a dramatic escalation of the ongoing trade conflict, US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose 50% additional tariffs on Chinese imports unless Beijing withdraws its retaliatory tariffs by April 8, 2025. The announcement, made on Monday, has raised concerns about further deterioration in U.S.-China trade relations.
In a post on TruthSocial, Trump issued a stern warning to China: “If China does not withdraw its 34 percent increase above their already long-term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50 percent, effective April 9th.”
The US President also signaled a hardening stance on diplomatic negotiations, adding, “Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated! Negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Earlier, China's Ministry of Finance announced that it would impose an additional 34 per cent tariff on all US goods starting April 10, marking a retaliatory action in response to President Donald Trump's tariffs.
Trump's Tariff Spree
Right after assuming the office for his second tenure as the US president, Trump said that he could put 25 percent trade tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting on February. For products from China, Trump announced a levy of 60 percent levy.
In his inaugural address, Trump pledged that tariffs would be imposed and said foreign countries would be paying the trade penalties, even though those taxes are currently paid by domestic importers and often passed along to consumers.
However, a day after pausing planned tariffs for at least a month for Mexico, US President Donald Trump on February 4 agreed to do the same with Canada after a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. However, Trump's tariffs against China are still slated to go into effect on Tuesday.
On February 3, Trump paused the tariffs it imposed on Mexico. In a tweet, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, President of Mexico in her conversation with USA President Donald Trump said that the tariffs have been paused for a month
Later, he threatened the European Union with a 200 percent retaliatory tariff on European wine, champagne, and spirits if the European Union went forward with a planned tariff on American whiskey. The European tariff was expected to go into effect on April 1.
Trump has also threatened Canada with new tariffs targeting Canadian lumber and dairy products. Citing Canada's roughly 250% tariff on US dairy exports to the country, President Trump said in an Oval Office address, "Canada has been ripping us off for years on lumber and on dairy products," CNN reported.
Moreover, he doubled his planned tariffs on steel and aluminum products imported from Canada to 50 percent. The move came in response to Ontario's decision to impose a 25 percent tariff on its electricity exports to the United States.
More recently, Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on imports from countries purchasing oil or gas from Venezuela. Taking it to his social media platform Truth Social, Trump announced that Venezuela has been “very hostile” to the US and countries purchasing oil from it will be forced to pay the tariff on all their trade to the US starting April 2.
