Foreign nations are lining up to strike a deal with the United States, top administration officials said on Sunday, after President Donald Trump unveiled his “Liberation Day” tariffs last week.
During an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett revealed that he had received an update from the United States Trade Representative suggesting that Trump’s strategy to tackle trade imbalances with 10% baseline levies and rates up to 50% is already showing results.
“I got a report from the USTR last night that more than 50 countries have reached out to the president to begin a negotiation. But they’re doing that because they understand that they bear a lot of the tariff,” Hassett said. “And so, I don’t think that you’re going to see a big effect on the consumer in the U.S. because I do think that the reason why we have a persistent, long-run trade deficit is these people have very inelastic supply. They’ve been dumping goods into the country in order to create jobs, say, in China.”
On NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent cited the same number after noting that the decision to maintain the tariffs indefinitely rests with Trump.
“I can tell you that as only he can do at this moment, he has created maximum leverage for himself,” Bessent said. “And more than 50 countries have approached the administration about lowering their non-tariff trade barriers, lowering their tariffs, stopping currency manipulation.”
In a “Sunday Morning Futures” appearance, White House Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing Peter Navarro seemed to dismiss the prospect that merely removing tariffs on the United States would be sufficient.
“This is not a negotiation. This is a national emergency based on a trade deficit that’s gotten out of control because of cheating,” he said on the Fox News program after being pressed on whether Vietnam might be able to duck U.S. tariffs the Southeast Asian country offered to withdraw its own levies.
However, Navarro added, “We’re always willing to listen. That’s what Donald Trump does best. But I want to just say to the world here, if you want to come and talk to us, don’t say you want to lower their tariffs and be done with it. It’s the non-tariff cheating. Stop manipulating your currency. Stop dumping stuff in. Europe, take your 19 percent VAT tax down to zero. Don’t put these fake agricultural standards to keep out our pork and our dairy and our chickens. And, Vietnam, don’t dump shrimp into our markets and put the good people of Louisiana on our coast out of work. This is what people have to understand. It’s the non-tariff cheating that matters the most.”
As stock market averages drop amid fears of rising prices for consumers and an escalating trade war, Trump sent a message to Americans on Saturday, urging them to remain steadfast.
“China has been hit much harder than the USA, not even close. They, and many other nations, have treated us unsustainably badly. We have been the dumb and helpless ‘whipping post,’ but not any longer,” Trump said on Truth Social. “We are bringing back jobs and businesses like never before. Already, more than FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS OF INVESTMENT, and rising fast! THIS IS AN ECONOMIC REVOLUTION, AND WE WILL WIN. HANG TOUGH, it won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic. We will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”