Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 04/24/2025 12:53:04 AM PDT by Cronos
US President Donald Trump has signaled a potential U-turn on his trade war with China amid continued market volatility, saying the high tariffs on Chinese goods will “come down substantially, but it won’t be zero.”
Trump’s remarks, made at a White House news event Tuesday, appear to mark a rhetorical climbdown after weeks of tough posturing and tit-for-tat retaliation that sent tariffs on China beyond a staggering 145%.
“145% is very high and it won’t be that high,” Trump said in a question-and-answer session with reporters in the Oval Office. “It won’t be anywhere near that high. It’ll come down substantially. But it won’t be zero.”
Trump made the comments when asked about Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s remarks earlier in the day that the high tariff rates between the United States and China have effectively embargoed trade between the economies.
Bessent said at a private investment conference hosted by JP Morgan Chase that the trade war with China is unsustainable and he expects the battle to de-escalate in the very near future, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to CNN.
...“Claiming it wants to reach an agreement with China while constantly applying maximum pressure is not the right way to engage with China — and it simply won’t work,” Guo Jiakun,
“China’s position on the tariff war initiated by the United States is very clear: We do not want to fight, but we are not afraid to fight. If it’s to fight, we’ll fight till the end. If it’s to talk, our door is wide open,”
Trump’s shift in tone also went viral on the Chinese internet. On Wednesday, the hashtag “Trump chickened out” was trending as a top topic on social media platform Weibo, racking up more than 150 million views.
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Like most countries, China will say one thing openly. However, their words may be different in the back channels.
I’m all for the tariffs to even out and get better trade deals but this constant up and down of what the tariffs are and for how long isn’t good for anyone especially when you he appear to be changing every few days
It will end with compromise. People on both sides have a lot of bravado - that China will fold, or that America will fold. The truth is that both sides will compromise, and end up with something that makes it somewhat better (eg China removing many of the tariffs it had on US products) but nowhere near perfect (eg the trade imbalance will not change much).
So, a better tariff regime where American products do not face impossible odds, but not a perfectly equal trading regime because that would be far more difficult than a simple tariff reduction. For instance, the statement that China should shift a little more towards a domestic consumer market (that can buy American products) rather than its current primarily export orientation, is simply wishful thinking. It doesn’t matter if it is someone from Trump’s or Biden’s administration saying it, it is wishful thinking.
Compromise will be the end result, and if it doesn’t happen now it will happen in the near future once Chinese and American citizens can no longer accept the pain.
There is an assumption by opponents of Trump that his current stance on any issue is an entrenched position, and any change is a concession that he made a mistake and is trying to do something else now.
The reality is he is in a flexible negotiating stance and has been all along. There is no U-turn here. More stupidity from the media.
Why are we even trading with a communist country that uses slave labor?
The way most things is DC end ... greased by Chinese money.
Liars
More misinformation...
It was never intended to stay at 145%.
CNN spin. The tariffs will come down when a deal is made. No about face just what has been said all along.
Their reporting is always suspect.
Well said and absolutely correct.
The public does not and cannot see what is happening in back channels and that's where the negotiating is done.
And the stupidity isn't just coming from the media. There has never been more wailing and gnashing of teeth from FR. What a bunch of pearl clutchers.
Trump isn't hinting at a potential U-turn. He's telling us that he and China will negotiate to bring down tariffs on both sides. That was his goal from the get-go...not a reversal of his position.
And with his favorable statements about Xi, he's trying to give Xi, the CCP, and China an opening for "face saving."
Chaos management isn’t a good style.
Spot on. But I doubt it will move the trade imbalance needle all that much.
Since tariff wars are stupid : it will end by...
.....ending.
Potential U-turn???
Is the author crazy or just stupid?
Of course the tariffs will come down...that was the whole point of setting them so high in the first place...I swear, these people who write about this don’t know their azzes from a hole in the ground....
Because Wall Street and the globalist investor class like that.
It is bad enough we let Eurotrash comment here but posting from CNN? Go away you socialist loser.
Stick to your guns, Donald. China is ripping us off left and right.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.