President Donald Trump is scheduled Wednesday to meet with Japanese officials to negotiate on tariffs and trade — two days after the president’s top economic adviser said the United States is close to deals with more than 10 trading partners.
“The president will decide when he’s satisfied with the deal and when he wants to announce it and how many all at once. But I can tell you, the progress has been astonishing,” Kevin Hassett, trade advisor, said. Meanwhile, Trump said in his Monday Oval Office meeting with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele that he was considering tariff exemptions on imported components for U.S. auto manufacturers as they switch to parts manufactured in the U.
Some Chinese imports face a 245% tariff
The White House clarified on Wednesday that only some products, such as electric vehicles and syringes, from China are tariffed at 245% — and noted that this is not a new widespread tariff placed on China. “China now faces up to a 245% tariff on imports to the United States as a result of its retaliatory actions,” according to a White House release. The White House indicated that a 145% tariff on China will be added to Section 301 tariffs, which are product-specific tariffs already placed on China.
President Donald Trump initiated 301 tariffs during his first term, and then-President Joe Biden increased some of those tariffs. For example, Biden placed a 100% tariff on electric vehicles. That, coupled with the new 145% tariff from Trump, brings the total to 245%.
“Hopefully something can be worked out which is good (GREAT!) for Japan and the USA!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. The White House previously indicated that the president would be in on the negotiations alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
“There is no winner in the tariff war and trade war,” a ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday. “China is unwilling to fight, but it is never afraid to fight.”
A representative of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country has taken “completely reasonable and legal” steps to protect itself against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Lin’ was responding to a question from a reporter on the recent figures published on the White House’s website, which says tariffs on Chinese goods may be up to 245%.
In a fact sheet published Tuesday, the White House said China faces duties that high “as a result of its retaliatory actions.”
“China has repeatedly clarified its strict position on the tariff issue,” Lin said on Wednesday. “This tariff war was initiated by the United States, and China has taken necessary counter-measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests and international fairness and justice, which is completely reasonable and legal.”
White House doesn’t provide more details on trade deals
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt repeated claims that 75 countries have reached out and said, without providing further details, that it “had more than 15 deals, pieces of paper put on the table, proposals that are actively being considered.”
“We do believe that we can announce some deals very soon,” she said.
Trump emphasizes support for farmers amid trade war with China
In a Tuesday social media post, President Donald Trump claimed he will protect farmers and said he recognizes he had to support them financially during his first administration after they were hit by a trade war with China.
“China was brutal to our Farmers, I [told] these Patriots to just hold on, and a great trade deal was made,” the president claimed. He encouraged farmers to hold on, saying he will protect them, and bashed former President Joe Biden, claiming China had “ZERO” respect for his administration.
He also acknowledged that China has halted Boeing jet deliveries as part of the tit-for-tat trade war.
Trump praises Nvidia for promising new US production
President Donald Trump reacted on social media to Nvidia’s Monday announcement that it would commit to building its artificial intelligence supercomputers entirely in the United States, calling the move “very big” and “exciting.”
The chip company promised to produce $500 billion of AI infrastructure in Texas over the next four years.
“All necessary permits will be expedited and quickly delivered to NVIDIA, as they will to all companies committing to be part of the Golden Age of America!” Trump claimed.
Good chance’ of US-UK trade deal, Vance reportedly says
Vice President J.D. Vance reportedly said the U.S. and U.K. are currently “working very hard” on a trade deal and that there’s a “good chance” the two sides will come to an agreement.
“The president really loves the United Kingdom. He loved the queen. He admires and loves the king. It is a very important relationship. And he’s a businessman and has a number of important business relationships in an interview with UnHerd, a British news and opinion website, published on Tuesday.
Vance did not say how soon a deal could be reached with the U.K., but suggested it may be easier to reach one than with other European allies.
“With the United Kingdom, we have a much more reciprocal relationship than we have with, say, Germany… While we love the Germans, they are heavily dependent on exporting to the United States but are pretty tough on a lot of American businesses that would like to export into Germany,” he said.
“Fairness” is at the center of working out deals, according to Vance, who said it will “lead to a lot of positive trade relationships with Europe.”
“We very much see Europe as our ally,” he told UnHerd. “We just want it to be alliances where Europeans are a little more independent, and our security and trade relationships are gonna reflect that.”
And after stocks across the globe plunged in the wake of Trump’s tariffs announcement, Vance said in the interview that “any implementation of a new system is fundamentally going to make financial markets jittery.”
“No plan is, you know, going to be implemented perfectly,” he said, adding, “We’re very cognizant of the fact that we live in a complicated world where nobody else’s decisions are static. But the fundamental policy is to rebalance global trade, and I think the President has been very clear and persistent on that.”
’Unprecedented power grab’: Small businesses sue over Trump’s tariffs
The national emergency Trump used to justify his sweeping tariffs is a “figment of his own imagination,” argued a group of small businesses that urged a federal court to declare the tariffs unlawful.
In a lawsuit filed Monday in the Court of International Trade in New York, the group of businesses alleged that the law used to invoke the tariffs — the International Emergency Economic Powers Act — does not empower Trump to unilaterally impose tariffs.
“The President of the United States claims the authority to unilaterally levy tariffs on goods imported from any and every country in the world, at any rate, calculated via any methodology—or mere caprice—immediately, with no notice, or public comment, or phase-in, or delay in implementation, despite massive economic impacts that are likely to do severe damage to the global economy,” the lawsuit said.
While Trump cited the country’s trade deficits to justify the tariffs, the lawsuit argued that the longstanding trade deficits between the U.S. and its trading partners are not an “unusual and extraordinary threat” needed to declare an emergency.
“This Court should declare the President’s unprecedented power grab illegal, enjoin the operation of the executive actions that purport to impose these tariffs under the IEEPA, and reaffirm this country’s core founding principle: there shall be no taxation without representation,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit was filed in a New York-based federal court that adjudicates trade laws and brought by five small businesses, including a New York liquor distributor, a Utah-based plastic pipe company, a Virginia-based educational equipment company, a Pennsylvania fishing and tackle outfitter, and a Vermont-based brand of cycling apparel.
The lawsuit marks the second case to challenge Trump’s tariff and the first to specifically call into question the sweeping measures imposed on what Trump called “Liberation Day” earlier this month.
White House moves toward pharmaceutical and semiconductor tariffs
The White House is taking steps to move towards implementing new tariffs on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, as Trump said earlier.
Copies of federal notices put online Monday show that the Department of Commerce initiated a public comment period for two Section 232 investigations of pharmaceutical and semiconductor-related products, including the machines used to make chips, and ingredients used for pharmaceutical production.
According to the notices, the investigation began on April 1.
The investigation itself does not implement tariffs, but could signal President Trump will move forward with new tariffs.
Trump has used Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 previously to implement tariffs on steel and aluminum imports as well.
Bessent says tariff negotiations are ‘moving quickly’
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. is “moving quickly with many of our most important trading partners” and has meetings in coming days with Japan and South Korea.
“So, we had Vietnam in last week. We have Japanese in on Wednesday, South Korea next week. So, it’s going to move fast, and we but the important thing for your viewers to know is we’re setting up a process, and we are going to run the process,” Bessent said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Argentina.
It’s going to be orderly, and at the end of the day, especially for the most important trade partners, the president is going,” Bessent said.
Pressed on how many countries he expected the U.S. to strike a deal with before the 90-day pause is up, Bessent painted an optimistic, but vague picture.
“I think there could be numerous countries, and it may not be the actual trade document, but we will have agreement in principle and be able to move forward from there,” Bessent said.
Pressed again for a general sense of how many countries they expected to get a deal with, Bessent again was vague.
“I think it’s going to depend, but we’re going to move with all deliberate speed. And again, it’s going to be a process. It’s going to be USTR, who just has mountains of data that they’ve been collecting over the years. Because, in a funny way, the tariffs are the easiest part. So a country with high tariffs, you can just say, ‘OK, this, this, this, this, get rid of it. It’s the non-tariff trade barriers that are more insidious, more difficult to spot, and it’s probably going to take a little longer,” he said.
Asked if he would be able to provide clarity once the 90 days are up, Bessent replied, “I think clarity is through the eye of the beholder, but I can guarantee you that we’re going to run a robust process, and I think the market can take great comfort in that,” Bessent said.
Trump says he might exempt auto parts from tariffs
President Donald Trump said Monday he’s considering tariff exemptions on imported components for U.S. auto manufacturers as they switch to parts manufactured in the U.S.
“I’m looking for something to help some of the car companies where they’re switching to parts that were made in Canada, Mexico and other places,” Trump said. “And they need a little bit of time. Because they’re going to make them here. But they need a little bit of time. So I’m talking about things like that.”
Tariffs of 25% on vehicles imported into the United States went into effect earlier this month. Tariffs of 25% on imported auto parts, including engines and electrical components, are set to go into effect later.
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office of the White House in
Trump: ‘I don’t blame China’
President Donald Trump said former President Joe Biden allowed China and other countries to “fleece us,” but he doesn’t blame China.
“I don’t blame China. I don’t blame Vietnam,” he said, referring to meetings on trade between the two countries on Monday.
“I see the meeting today, is that wonderful? That’s a lovely meeting. We’re meeting, like trying to figure out how do we screw the United States of America?” he said. “Don’t forget, the European Union was formed to do just that. The European Union was formed to hurt the United States and — and on trade, and to get us on NATO because they don’t pay their bills.”
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