WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump suggests that his administration could strike trade deals with some countries as soon as this week, offering the prospect of relief for trading partners seeking to avoid higher US import duties.
“It could very well be,” Trump told reporters last Sunday when asked whether any trade agreements were coming this week. He didn’t specify any countries.
“We’re negotiating with many countries, but at the end of this, I’ll set my own deals, because I set the deal. They don’t set the deal,” Trump said aboard Air Force One.
“You keep asking the same question: ‘When will you agree?’ It’s up to me, it’s not up to them.” Trump also signalled that his aides are having conversations with counterparts from China.
Financial markets have steadied in the past two weeks amid signs that talks with Asian nations are progressing and trade tensions between China and the United States could ratchet down from current levels.
China has been the focus of Trump’s tariff campaign, leading Beijing to retaliate against US levies, which now run as high as 145% on Chinese goods. Tariffs on American goods are now at 125%.
China has been hinting at a possible thaw in recent days, while Trump told NBC News in comments broadcast last Sunday that he’s willing to lower US tariffs at some point.
In response to a question on Air Force One, Trump said he has no current plans to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Beijing confirmed last week that its authorities are in communication with American officials over trade deals.
Discussions have been underway with Trump’s aides and multiple other countries, but top officials continue to signal that they may still impose duties on trading partners.
“At a certain point, I’ll be just setting a certain tariff number,” Trump said last Sunday. “At some point in the next two weeks or three weeks, I’m going to be setting the deal.
“I’m going to say that such and such a country has had a tremendous trade surplus – surplus their way – with us and they’ve taken advantage of us in various ways, and we fully understand what they were doing,” he said.
Trump’s sweeping tariff policies have whipsawed global markets, sparking fears of an economic downturn. — Bloomberg