US President Donald Trump hit pause on sweeping global tariffs as he announced a 90-day freeze for all countries except China. As countries got a temporary reprieve, Donald Trump imposed a 125 percent tariff on all Chinese imports. Beijing immediately retaliated as it slapped 84 percent tariffs on American goods- escalating the trade war between the world’s top two economies.
The White House doubled down on its pressure campaign on other countries while making an example out of China. In a blunt message to other nations, the White House said, “DO NOT RETALIATE AND YOU WILL BE REWARDED."
Donald Trump said he paused the imposition of higher tariffs on many countries because people “were getting a little bit yippy." He said, “Well, I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippy, you know, they were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid, unlike these champions, because we have a big job to do."
He added, “No other president would have done what I did. No other president. And it had to be done."
Donald Trump insisted earlier that the White House was fully committed to imposing sweeping “reciprocal" tariffs on dozens of countries. The White House said that going big on tariffs and then hitting the pause button, before entering negotiations with individual countries, was the plan before as well.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, “We’ve had more than 75 countries contact us, and I imagine, after today, there will be more.
Donald Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro said that the tariff situation “unfolded exactly the way it should" while White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “You clearly failed to see what President Trump is doing here. The entire world is calling the United States of America."
Donald Trump acknowledged that the stock markets had looked “pretty glum" and that “people were getting a little queasy". On his Truth Social platform, he urged people to “BE COOL!" and promised that “everything is going to work out".
Source: News18