In the weeks that led to Donald Trump’s “ERITION Liberation Day”, diplomats and foreign officials broadcast through Washington to secure the Holy Grail: an agreement that the president could not refuse, and one that would save his fees.
No one succeeded. Trump used emergency powers rarely invoked to issue tariffs between 10 percent and 50 percent against almost every country in the world, aiming at a global trade system that he said had “removed” the US for decades.
Now the world is asking if he wants to save tariffs or is simply looking to negotiate – a question that has become increasingly urgent with the steep fall of global net capital markets in the wake of Trump’s announcement.
But two days after the president announced his broad tariffs in the White House rose garden, US officials are signaling that he is dealing with foreign governments is not his advantage, despite Trump talking to the Vietnam leader on Friday.
Trump described his first call with a foreign leader since the “productive” Wednesday announcement, after LAM offered to cut Hanoi’s fees for American goods to zero.
But White House officials announced the opening of the president to “get the phone” to a foreign leader should not be confused about serious negotiations that would lead to lowering tariffs.
The White House was focused on tax enforcement, they added, suggesting that Washington will impose a high bar for any agreement to ease the measures.
“President Trump is always ready to receive a call from a foreign leader and discuss potential agreements, but it’s not a negotiation until a negotiation,” a White House official said.
Earlier in the day, Trump seemed to double in his big tariffs, despite causing Wall Street’s worst route since the 2020 Covid-19 crisis.
“For many investors coming to the United States and by investing massive amounts of money, my policies will never change,” Trump posted on his social platform of truth. “This is a great time to get rich, richer than ever before !!!”
Officials have been in pain to convey that tariffs – applied using the International Act of Emergency Emergency Economic Powers – have been a response to decades of allegedly unjust trade practices by Washington’s leading partners and allies, and were created to reshape American production and increase US jobs.
“This is not a negotiation,” said a senior White House official Wednesday. “Is a national emergency.”
A person known for the administration’s opinion said Trump realized that to attract companies to move their production operations to the US, tariffs will have to be permanent. “Companies need assurance that this is the new policy environment,” the person said.
The White House official said SH.BA was not talking to other places about “specific omissions”. “The thing we are seeing is trade deficits,” they said.
Scott Bessent, the US Treasury Secretary, on Friday rejected the potential for quick negotiations with senior trading partners to reduce taxes.
“I think what will be more important than discussing the seats is the discussion with the company,” Bessent said in an interview with Tucker Carlson, the right -wing media host, which was broadcast on Friday.
Bessent’s efforts to calm the markets have been limited to statements he made before that tariffs would only be increased for countries that retaliate against US trade measures – and otherwise this week’s taxes would be the upper limit.
Beijing Friday responded to the US by imposing additional 34 percent tariffs on Chinese imports with its 34 percent fee for all US imports in China.
Trump went to social media to express his anger. “China played that wrong, they were scared – the only thing they can’t afford to do!” He wrote about social truth.
Bessent told Carlson “The Dream Scenario” would be a big bargain in which Beijing rehabilitated its economic model, but warned that it would not happen “within a month”, but “in the coming years, they may have to come around.”
He added: “Europeans go by kicking and screaming, but I think they will have to rebalance.”
Messages have not stopped diplomats and business figures to try to reach the president in recent days.
EU High Trade Diplomat, Maroš Šefčovič, spoke with the American Trade Secretary Howard Lutnick and representative of American trade Jamieson Greer on Friday. Šefčovič told them that the block was “dedicated to significant negotiations”, according to a meeting of the meeting.
Everett Eissenstat, a former trade official in Trump’s first stay at the White House and a Squire Patton Boggs partner, believes the president is open to striking agreement.
But he warned: “I also think that at the end of the day that tariffs will be higher, so we will surely end in a very unique way of President Trump, with a universal tariff that has negotiated flexibility.”
