Trump Schedules Tariff Talks But Plans 104% Hit on China

(Bloomberg) -- US President Donald Trump spent the final hours before his tariffs were set for full implementation lining up negotiations with US allies, but his insistence on pushing forward with 104% tariffs on many Chinese goods dimmed optimism that a brutal trade war would be avoided.

Trump and top administration officials on Tuesday signaled the US was open to dealmaking that could reduce or eliminate higher tariffs on dozens of nations as Asian and European leaders announced plans for talks with the White House. 

“We’re doing very well in making — I call them tailored deals, not off the rack, these are highly tailored deals,” Trump said Tuesday at an energy event at the White House.

Still, Trump is pushing ahead with higher duties on roughly 60 trading partners that he dubbed the “worst offenders” set to take effect after midnight New York time. Most critically, the president plans to forge ahead with what would amount to a 104% levy on many Chinese goods, which the US escalated after Beijing made clear it would retaliate over Trump’s “reciprocal” tariff program.

Trump cast that move as a mistake, but said he still believed China would ultimately join the dozens of nations seeking a trade agreement.

“China also wants to make a deal, badly, but they don’t know how to get it started. We are waiting for their call. It will happen!” the president said.

The maximalist approach to China represented the starkest change being readied for implementation, but Trump made clear Tuesday he sees the tariffs as a boon to the US Treasury and a shield for crucial industries. At the same time, he appeared to relish requests from other countries to reduce the levies he announced last week. 

Trump said prospects for a trade deal with South Korea were “looking good” after a phone conversation with acting President Han Duck-soo and that Japanese officials were getting on a plane for talks.

“We have the confines and probability of a great DEAL for both countries,” Trump posted on social media about the South Korea talks. 

Trump said that countries were offering concessions — including on issues beyond trade and tariffs — that far exceeded what would have been possible without the tariffs. 

“It was somewhat explosive, but if we didn’t do that, we wouldn’t be talking the way we’re talking right now,” Trump said.

Still, the president acknowledged that it would take time to negotiate bespoke trade deals with the nearly 70 countries that had reached out in the past week seeking talks.

Another risk for the president is if China’s retaliatory approach proves successful, particularly if Americans begin feeling the pinch of dramatically more expensive imports. Beijing officials made clear Tuesday they planned to go ahead with higher duties on American goods despite Trump’s posturing. 

“Trade and tariff wars have no winners, and protectionism leads nowhere. We Chinese are not troublemakers, but we will not flinch when trouble comes our way. Intimidation, threat and blackmail are not the right way to engage with China,” said a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The standoff makes it hard to envision Chinese President Xi Jinping rushing to contact his US counterpart for immediate relief. 

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Beijing had miscalculated, and said Trump would be happy if electronics like Apple Inc.’s iPhone were assembled in the US rather than China.

“President Trump has a spine of steel, and he will not break,” she said, adding that “America does not need other countries as much as other countries need us.”

Still, she said, Trump would be “gracious” if Chinese leaders reached out to negotiate. 

The S&P 500 Index jumped 3.4% at the open and the Nasdaq 100 rose 3.5% on optimism that trade deals could avert the harshest penalties, but those gains evaporated by the afternoon as the White House reiterated its plans to push forward on the threatened Chinese tariffs. Both indices closed in the red.

Leavitt said deals would “only be made if they benefit American workers and address our nation’s crippling trade deficits.” 

Earlier: Trump Keeps Investors on Edge With Clashing Tariff Comments 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier that “Japan is going to get priority” in a long line of nations looking to persuade Trump to roll back his so-called reciprocal duties, praising Tokyo for holding off on retaliating against the US following Trump’s tariff announcement. Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba held a Monday call to set up talks, with the Japanese leader urging the president to rethink his approach. 

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said at a congressional hearing Tuesday that Trump’s tariffs will be “going into effect” and “we’re coupling that with immediate negotiations with our partners.”

“If you have a better idea to achieve reciprocity and to get our trade deficit down, we want to talk to you. We want to negotiate with you. And it goes both ways,” Greer said. 

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is also expected to travel to the US to negotiate tariff relief directly with Trump. 

Still, it remains unclear what countries will need to do to reduce their tariff levels — or if they can escape the 10% baseline rate imposed on all nations.

Trump has praised trading partners for coming forward to make concessions, but also brushed aside some offers. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly pitched Trump in the Oval Office, promising to bring down barriers and erase a trade surplus with the US — only for the US president to say he wasn’t sure it would be enough to change his mind. Trump has also dismissed the idea of a blanket pause before the tariffs go into place. 

“There can be permanent tariffs and there can also be negotiations, because there are things that we need beyond tariffs,” Trump told reporters on Monday. 

And some of Trump’s top aides have publicly split over the tariff regime. Elon Musk, Trump’s billionaire adviser, has criticized the announcement and on Tuesday said trade counselor Peter Navarro was “truly a moron” in a post on X. 

(Updates throughout with additional context)

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