WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – President Donald Trump says his 90-day pause of reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries has brought them to the negotiating table.
“Everybody wants to come and make a deal,” President Trump said. “We’re trying to get the world to treat us fairly.”
The president kept a 10% baseline tariff in place and raised tariffs on Chinese goods after China retaliated.
“Again, there’ll be a transition cost, and transition problems, but in the end, it’s going to be a beautiful thing,” President Trump said.
Democrats in Congress aren’t happy about the back-and-forth policy.
“Trade wars never end well. He started one. It’s not clear to me he’s going to end it,” Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-Calif.) said.
Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.) called it chaotic.
“He imposes them, threatens them, pulls some of them back,” Leger Fernandez said.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called out the president’s Truth Social post Wednesday urging people to buy stocks hours before he paused some tariffs, causing the stock market to jump.
“Anybody who traded in the last 48 hours and made an incredible amount of money prior to this tariff announcement who sits right there in that house needs to answer for it,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Many Republicans support the president’s tariffs.
“Bottom line is we have a huge trade deficit. It’s not fair,” Rep. John McGuire (R-Va.) said.
Congressman Vince Fong (R-Calif.) says the tariffs will help American workers.
“America’s farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers– we can compete with anybody with a level playing field,” Fong said.
