The Washington seems ready to blink first in the trade standoff with Beijing, as US President Donald Trump conceded that the 145 per cent tariffs Americans currently pay for most imported goods from China will “come down substantially, but it won’t be zero”. The American President insisted that he would be “very nice” with Beijing during the upcoming negotiations, but insisted that China would ultimately be forced to agree to some sort of agreement to bring down the massive taxes that upended decades of US trade policy and sparked global economic turmoil. 

He claimed that trade talks with China were “doing fine” because “everybody wants to have involvement” in American markets, but insisted that if China does not agree to a trade deal, the United States will set the terms.

“Ultimately, they have to make a deal, because otherwise they’re not going to be able to deal in the United States, and we want them involved, but they have to, and other countries have to make a deal, and if they don’t make a deal, we’ll set the deal,” Trump said while speaking in the Oval Office 

He said, “We’re going to be setting the deal, and it’ll be a fair deal for everybody, and it’ll be”, adding that it’s a “process that’s going to go pretty quickly.”

When asked whether the tariffs on Chinese imports will come down, Trump said, “It’ll come down substantially. But it won’t be zero.”

“145 per cent is very high, and it won’t be that high…It got up to there [because] we were talking about fentanyl…It will come down substantially, but it won’t be zero,” the American commander in chief said, referring to an emergency he declared over the smuggling of the drug into the US.

He further said that future tariffs “will not be anywhere near that number.”

Change In Tone

The American leader’s conciliatory new tone on the matter of his trade policy comes as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) slashed its global growth forecasts, predicting a higher risk of recession in the US as Trump’s trade war pushes the global economy into a “significant slowdown”. 

Meanwhile, the White House continued insisting that Trump’s tariffs have proved to be a success despite record drops in financial markets and worldwide recession fears. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the whole world was beating down Trump’s door to strike bilateral trade deals as a result of the President’s actions. 

Trade War With China

So far, US President Trump has imposed tariffs as high as 145 per cent on imports from China. Other countries are facing a blanket 10 per cent US tariff until July.

The Trump administration last week said that when the new tariffs are added to existing ones, the levies on some Chinese goods could reach 245 per cent.

China has retaliated with a 125 per cent tax on products from the US and vowed to “fight to the end”.