- “I don’t want them to go higher,” the U.S. president said of the tariffs.
- The market responded sharply to the higher tariffs on April 2.
- Trump said China is optimistic about reaching a deal.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Tit-Tat tariff hikes between the United States and China may end shocking markets, and the fate of social media platform Tiktok may have to wait.
“I don’t want them to go higher because at some point you can do that where people don’t buy,” Trump told reporters.
“So, I might not want to go higher, or I don’t even want to get to that level. I might want to spend less money because you know you want people to buy and at some point, people won’t buy.”
Trump’s comment further pointed out that interest in full tariffs in dozens of countries has decreased after the market reacted violently to its introduction on April 2.
The Republican president has charged 10% tariffs on most goods entering the country but has delayed the implementation of higher taxes, awaiting negotiations.
Still, he hiked the Chinese import tax rate after Beijing retaliated against its countermeasures, which now totaled 145%. Last week, China said it would “will not respond” “a digital game with tariffs”, which indicated that the overall interest rate would not rise further.
Trump said China has been in touch since the tariffs were imposed and expressed optimism that they could reach a deal.
Although the two sides remain in touch, sources told Reuters that high-level exchanges with free movement will be largely absent.
Trump repeatedly refused to designate the nature of the talks between countries during his conversation with reporters, or whether they directly included Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump has repeatedly extended the legal deadline for the Chinese-based beast to divest U.S. assets from short video apps used by 170 million Americans. A spin-off agreement could wait until the deal problem is resolved, he said Thursday.
“We have a deal with Tiktok, but it will be bound by China, so we will delay the deal until this thing works one way or another,” Trump said.
