WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – President Donald Trump is granting a 90-day pause on his reciprocal tariffs against most of our trading partners, except for China. The president raised U.S. tariffs on China even higher to 125%.
The White House says this decision was all President Trump. His top trade representative who was testifying at a House hearing was even caught off guard at the announcement.
“People were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting a little bit yippy,” said Trump.
U.S. stocks shot back up when President Trump announced on social media that he’s authorizing a 90-day pause in his widespread tariff war.
“Do not retaliate, and you will be rewarded,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
That’s why the Trump administration says one country will still pay, China.
“I’m not calling it a trade war,” said Bessent.
President Trump is now raising U.S. tariffs on the country to 125% after China announced it would levy an 84 percent tariff on the U.S. starting Thursday.
“We instead are in the driver’s seat as we should be,” said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says the short-term impacts of tariffs, particularly on farmers, are still unknown.
“No one knows. We don’t have a crystal ball,” said Rollins.
Democrats, like Massachusetts Congressman Jake Auchincloss, say one of the short-term impacts of President Trump’s plan is chaos.
“The president issuing tariffs by tweet and nobody has any idea how they’re supposed to allocate capital for the next day, much less the next ten years,” said Auchincloss.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the administration now has about 75 negotiations lined up with other countries as the president plans to lower his baseline tariff to 10 percent.
“The only certainty we can provide is the U.S. will negotiate in good faith,” said Bessent.
If nothing changes before then, the president’s tariff pause on most of our trading partners would lift July 8th.
