Trump Hints at Softening Stance on China Tariffs, Says “Don’t Want to Go Higher on Levies”

Marking a slight shift in his stance, US President Donald Trump on April 18, hinted towards a potential softening of the aggressive tariff exchanges between the US and China that had recently wrecked havoc across global financial markets.

 “I don’t want tariffs to go higher because after a certain point, you make it where people don’t buy,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “So, I may not want to go higher, or I may not even want to go up to that level. I may want to go to less, because you know, you want people to buy and at a certain point, people aren’t going to buy.”

The backtracking on his stance signals a diminished appetite for slapping heavy tariffs on multiple trade partners after Trump received severe market backlash after his tariff announcements on April 2. In the midst of the backlash, Trump announced a 90-day breather before imposing the said tariffs on several countries, although he still kept a blanket 10% tariff across the board. The idea was to leave ample space for trade partners to come forth to the negotiation table and strike a deal, one that potentially favours the US.

Despite this 90-day delay, Trump held on to tariffs on Chinese products, with levies on some going as high as 245%. China responded with defiance, slapping a 125 percent retaliatory tariff and a slew of non-tariff import curbs targeted to inflict pain across a swathe of economic sectors. Trump’s hard stance on China, and the latter’s will to ‘fight till the end’ has fanned a scathing trade war between two of the biggest economies, putting the global trade setup under the threat of disruption.

However, China has since showed a desire to de-escalate. In a recent statement, Chinese officials said they would not engage in a “numbers game with tariffs”, implying no immediate desire for lifting tariffs further.

Trump said that China had reached out following the imposition of US tariffs and expressed cautious optimism about the potential for an agreement. “We’re in touch,” he said, though he declined to detail the nature of the discussions or confirm whether Chinese President Xi Jinping was directly involved. However, news agency Reuters exclusively reported that while communication between the two nations exists, the kind of high-level dialogue needed to reach a deal remains limited.