President Donald Trump’s severe tariffs against virtually all U.S. trading partners continued to roil world markets on Monday.
Asked if he would be open to pausing the tariffs to allow for negotiations, Trump responded, “We’re not looking at that.” Trump said the U.S. has “many, many, countries that are coming to negotiate deals with us.”
Earlier Monday, Trump threatened to veto a bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate last week that would require congressional approval of any tariffs the president would seek to impose. He also threatened to impose additional tariffs on China for retaliatory measures it took after Trump announced his plans last week.
A senior White House official told ABC News that this would be in addition to the 34% reciprocal tariff Trump announced last week and the 20% already in place, making for a potential total of 104%.
Trump’s 104% tariff rate on China to go into effect early Wednesday
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Tuesday that Trump’s threatened additional 50% tariff on China will go into effect early Wednesday, bringing the total tariff rate against Beijing to 104%.
“They will be going into effect at 12:01 a.m.,” she said.
“It was a mistake for China to retaliate. The president, when America is punched, he punches back harder,” Leavitt said. She added Trump believes China “wants to make a deal” but doesn’t know where to start.
How long will tariff negotiations take? WH says they’re moving at ‘Trump speed’
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked during Tuesday’s briefing if President Trump is operating on any specific timeline for when he wants to complete negotiations on tariffs.
“Well, we always move at Trump speed here at the White House, which is incredibly fast,” she responded.
Leavitt added, “the president likes to get things done, but he’s very much focused on ensuring that these deals are good for the American worker, they are good for American manufacturing, and again, that they tackle these crippling deficits with these countries.”
They will be “tailor-made deals,” Leavitt said, with Trump directing his entire trade team to be involved in the effort.
