Featured Image Credit: Kevin Dietsch/Getty
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, Tariffs, US News, World News, China
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, Tariffs, US News, World News, China
Donald Trump has indicated what could happen if countries don't make 'a deal good for both parties' amid the ongoing tariff war.
On April 9, China announced it would be introducing an additional 84 percent tariff on all goods imported into the country from the US following Trump's decision to impose 104 percent tariffs.
Trump hit back, increasing the tariffs on Chinese goods to 125 percent 'effective immediately'.
While Trump is busy playing tariff table tennis with China, other countries impacted by the tariffs have ended up being able to breathe a slight sigh of relief. The POTUS issued a 90-day pause on other countries' tariffs on the basis they haven't - and don't plan on - announcing retaliatory tariffs like China.
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However, it isn't all sunshine and rainbows. Trump said that while the bigger tariffs would be paused, 'a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period of 10 percent' was still 'effective immediately'.
But what happens if countries don't make a deal within that 90-day period?
In a press conference, when asked whether he would 'put the higher tariffs in place or extend the pause,' Trump warned: "Well, that's what would happen.
"I mean, if we can't make the deal that we want to make or we have to make or that's good for both parties - and it's got to be good for both parties - then we go back to where we were. "
And by 'where we were,' Trump indeed commented he 'thinks so' when asked whether that would mean returning to the tariffs initially unveiled on countries as part of America's 'Liberation Day'.
Although, he noted: "We'll have to see what happens at that time."
Well, whether that means back to the original tariffs, increasing them or decreasing them, I guess we'll all just have to wait and see.
Later on in the conference, a reporter asked whether countries will be able to negotiate the 10 percent baseline tariff and bring that down.
Trump responded: "It depends on what they're adding. You know, some countries we have massive deficits with or they have big surpluses with us and others it's not that way.
"So it depends, they're all different - every country is different, some have certain advantages that others don't have and certain things."
The president alleged China has a 'crazy' 'surplus of a trillion dollars' whereas other countries 'have basically no surpluses'.
He resolved: "We have some that are pretty even, they just hurt us in other ways and we just want to get that taken care of.
"So everyone is a little bit different."