TMTPOST -- U.S. President Donald Trump suggested he is open to negotiations even though he denies any consideration of pause on tariffs.
Credit：Xinhua News Agency
Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday he didn’t consider implementing a pause on reciprocal tariffs he announced last Wednesday. “Well, We’re not looking at that,” Trump replied when asked whether he was thinking about taking more time to implement the tariffs.
Trump continued, “many countries that are coming to negotiate deals with us. And they’re going to be fair deals. And certain cases, they’re going to be paying substantial tariffs. They’ll be fair deals. As you know, I spoke this morning with the prime minister of Japan, and we had a very good conversation.”
When asked if the overall tariffs are permanent or open to negotiation, Trump claimed that “they can both be true.” “There can be permanent tariffs, and there can also be negotiations because there are things that we need beyond tariffs,” the president said.
Earlier Monday, misinterpretation of Trump’s top economic advisor led to rumors about White House’s weighing a pause on tariffs.
In a Fox News interview at Monday morning, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett was asked if Trump wound consider a 90-day pause on tariffs. “I think the president is going to decide what the president is going to decide," Hassett said. "There are more than 50 countries in negotiation with the president.”
Hassett did not say such a pause was on the table but CNBC aired a headline reporting Hassett said Trump is considering a 90-day-pause in tariffs for all countries except China. Reuters also developed a false deadline about Hassett’s remarks using the word “pause”.
CNBC White House correspondent Eamon Javers later made the correction, citing White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt that the pause on tariffs was “fake news.” "As we were chasing the news of the market moves in real-time, we aired unconfirmed information in a banner. Our reporters quickly made a correction on air," a spokesperson for CNBC told Fox News.
U.S. stock market rallied wildly at morning trading after the false news about pause, but soon pared the gains when investor found that was not official announcement of the White House. The Nasdaq Composite surged around 10% to the intraday high from the low, registering its biggest intraday comeback since 2008. The Dow Jones Industrial Average settled 349.26 points lower on Monday after rallying nearly 2600 points to high from its low, logging a record reversal. The S&P 500 finished 0.23% lower, though with a swing of 8.5% from low to high.
Trump on Monday also dismissed the European Union’s proposal about a removal of tariffs on cars and industrial goods. Trump later Monday said the EU will have to pledge purchase of $350 billion worth of energy from U.S. to get a reprieve from his tariffs. When asked whether the EU’s zero tariff offer was enough for him to back off his plan, Trump said:“ No, it’s not.”
Trump noted the U.S. has a trade deficit with the EU of $350 billion and one of the ways that an close the deficit easily and quickly for the EU is commit to to buying around $350 billion of energy from the U.S.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said earlier Monday that the EU is ready for negotiations with the U.S. over tariffs and has offered removal of tariffs on industrial tariffs.
Von der Leyen noted at a news conference in Brussels the new U.S. tariffs come at immense costs for U.S. consumers and businesses but, at the same time, they have a massive impact on the global economy. Head of the EU executive branch believes these tariffs represent a major turning point for the U.S., though revealed the proposal the bloc had offered to the Trump administration to pave the way for possible deal.
"We stand ready to negotiate with the United States," von der Leyen said in a video posted on X. "Indeed, we have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods as we have successfully done with many other trading partners because Europe is always ready for a good deal so we keep it on the table." She added, "But we’re also prepared to respond through countermeasures and defend our interests."
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