Trump Threatens Even Higher Tariffs on China, Rejects EU Offer

I’m not sure what President Trump’s precise tariff plans are at this point but the general goal seems to be to renegotiate trade deals with countries around the world in ways that made trade more favorable to the US. Here’s what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said yesterday on Meet the Press.

Pressed whether Trump’s latest barrage of tariffs would be permanent or whether they were simply a negotiating tactic, Bessent said Trump had “created maximum leverage for himself” and that over 50 countries were trying to negotiate the duties.

“More than 50 countries have approached the administration about lowering their non-tariff trade barriers, lowering their tariffs, stopping currency manipulation,” he said, adding that any talks would take time.

As of today, Sec. Bessent indicated the number of countries ready to negotiation had climbed nearly to 70.

🚨 JUST IN: Treasury Secretary Bessent announces up to 70 COUNTRIES have now reached out to President Trump to negotiate on trade

IN LESS THAN A WEEK! 🔥

Trump “gave himself maximum negotiating leverage — and just when he has achieved the maximum leverage, he’s willing to start… pic.twitter.com/DtEhFiPin5

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) April 7, 2025

But it seems Trump is prepared to drive a hard bargain. For instance, the EU apparently made an offer of zero-for-zero tariffs prior to Trump’s announcement last week. 

“We have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods as we have successfully done with many other trading partners,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday.

“Because Europe is always ready for a good deal. So we keep it on the table,” she said at a press conference alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

At the same time, the EU is also threatening to add new tariffs on US goods. This is the alternative stick to the zero-for-zero carrot offer they’ve already made..

European Union officials circulated on Monday evening in Brussels a list of products that they plan to hit with retaliatory tariffs, said Olof Gill, trade spokesman for the European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch. Representatives from across the bloc’s member states are expected to vote on that list on Wednesday. If approved, the fresh tariffs would take force in two waves — one on April 15, the second a month later.

So far President Trump doesn’t seem interested in the EU offer. He responded to a question about it today in the White House.

“No, it’s not,” Trump said in the Oval Office when asked if the deal, which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen floated earlier Monday, was enough.

“They’re screwing us on trade,” Trump said…

Probably this is going to end in a negotiation and the EU’s first offer is already better than where we were prior to this week. But things are looking worse when it comes to China. China has already said it plans to put in place retaliatory tariffs of 35% and Trump responded to that by threatening to add new tariffs of 50%.

🚨 #BREAKING: President Trump just announced he will be slapping an ADDITIONAL 50% tariff on China if they do not withdraw their retaliatory tariffs by tomorrow

Trump is NOT f***ing around, China.

You’re about to learn that the hard way. pic.twitter.com/ukJzFGfPwb

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) April 7, 2025

This would not be 50% total, it would be 50% on top of the two tariffs Trump already put in place, bringing the actual total to over 100%.

After Mr. Trump announced last week that he would impose a new 34 percent tariff on China, Beijing responded in force, threatening to impose a 34 percent tax on U.S. imports.

In response, Mr. Trump said Monday in a post on Truth Social that the United States would “impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th.” White House officials later clarified that the tariff would be additive, potentially bringing the total taxes that Mr. Trump has imposed on Chinese imports since he came into office to 104 percent…

In making that threat, Mr. Trump appeared to issue a stark warning to nations around the world that he would issue punishing additional tariffs if U.S. trading partners tried to rebuff his policies. His comments carried particular urgency on a day that officials in the European Union planned to circulate a list of U.S. products that they could soon subject to tariffs.

This would be a dramatic change in our trade relationship with China if it happened. No doubt the cost of items from China would go up substantially for US customers but also sales would go down doing major harm to the already struggling Chinese economy. I don’t think China wants that at this moment. China has spent the past several years talking tough toward the US. Will they keep that up now or reconsider? We’ll find out very soon how they respond. It’s 6am in Beijing as this post goes up.