{"id":16191,"date":"2025-04-08T22:02:37","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T22:02:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=16191"},"modified":"2025-04-08T23:25:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T23:25:53","slug":"art-of-the-tariff-deal-dozens-of-foreign-powers-negotiate-for-free-trade-instead-of-retaliation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=16191","title":{"rendered":"Art of the Tariff Deal: Dozens of Foreign Powers Negotiate for Free Trade Instead of Retaliation"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/thestarnewsnetwork.com\/2025\/04\/08\/art-of-the-tariff-deal-dozens-of-foreign-powers-negotiate-for-free-trade-instead-of-retaliation\/<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
by Ben Whedon and Steven Richards<\/h5>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many politicians and policymakers predicted that Monday would be a \u201cBlack Monday.\u201d While the equities market closed lower, the drops were at a lower pace than last week. In connecting the tariffs to the market\u2019s volatility, part of the evenness of Monday\u2019s trading came on the heels of news that numerous American trading partners agreed to negotiate with President Donald Trump and offered free trade deals to ratchet down his \u201creciprocal tariffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last Wednesday, which Trump dubbed \u201cLiberation Day,\u201d the president announced large-scale tariffs on nearly every country, declaring that the measures would help to end American trade deficits with foreign powers and bolster domestic production of goods. Thursday and Friday witnessed precipitous declines in the stock market, though the administration made clear it would hold the course.<\/p>\n

Preliminary announcements from Trump himself and senior administration officials, moreover, suggested that many key trading partners were prepared to negotiate favorable trade agreements to eliminate or at least reduce the tariffs.<\/p>\n

Talking to us<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cCountries from all over the World are talking to us. Tough but fair parameters are being set. Spoke to the Japanese Prime Minister this morning. He is sending a top team to negotiate!\u201d\u00a0Trump posted<\/a>\u00a0on Truth Social. \u201cThey have treated the U.S. very poorly on Trade. They don\u2019t take our cars, but we take MILLIONS of theirs. Likewise Agriculture, and many other \u2018things.\u2019 It all has to change, but especially with CHINA!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Trump urged Americans to avoid being a \u201cPANICAN\u201d and to have patience with the market as it adjusted to the economic rebalancing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States has a chance to do something that should have been done DECADES AGO. Don\u2019t be Weak! Don\u2019t be Stupid! Don\u2019t be a PANICAN (A new party based on Weak and Stupid people!). Be Strong, Courageous, and Patient, and GREATNESS will be the result!\u201d\u00a0he posted<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Evidently, at least some investors took his advice as key indices defied predictions of a precipitous fall and instead dropped only by modest amounts. The\u00a0DOW Jones<\/a>\u00a0closed down 0.91%, while the\u00a0Nasdaq rose 0.10%<\/a>, and the\u00a0S&P 500<\/a>\u00a0dropped 0.23%.<\/p>\n

More than 50 countries have asked to parley\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Several Trump administration officials hit the airwaves over the weekend, shedding light on President Trump\u2019s tariff strategy and indicating that negotiations are an important component of the plan. \u201cSo, the fact is, the countries are angry and retaliating and, by the way, coming to the table,\u201d National Economic Council Director Kevin\u00a0Hassett said during an interview<\/a>\u00a0with\u00a0ABC News<\/em>\u00a0on Sunday.<\/p>\n

He said that the tariffs imposed last week, so far, have spurred many countries to approach the administration to begin negotiations. \u201cI got a report from the [U.S. Trade Representative] last night that more than 50 countries have reached out to the president to begin a negotiation,\u201d Hassett said.<\/p>\n

Treasury Secretary Scott\u00a0Bessent said in an interview<\/a>\u00a0with\u00a0NBC News<\/em>\u00a0on Sunday that the tariffs have allowed President Trump to create \u201cmaximum leverage for himself\u201d in any trade negotiations. \u201cMore than 50 countries have approached the administration about lowering their non-tariff trade barriers, lowering their tariffs, stopping currency manipulation,\u201d he said, echoing Hassett, but warned that talks could take time.<\/p>\n

Some of the messaging out of the administration has been mixed, contributing to the confusion. Commerce Secretary Howard\u00a0Lutnick suggested in an interview on Sunday<\/a>\u00a0that the tariffs were designed to do more than spur negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no postponing. They are definitely going to stay in place for days and weeks. That is sort of obvious. The president needs to reset global trade,\u201d Lutnick told\u00a0CBS News<\/em>. \u201cEverybody has a trade surplus and we have a trade deficit. We are paying away our future and our lives. Come- the countries of the world are ripping us off, and it\u2019s got to end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither the U.S. Trade Representative nor the White House responded to requests for comment about which countries have approached Trump to negotiate a deal, but several have announced proposals publicly or are preparing negotiating teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cEurope is always ready for a good deal\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many nations initially balked at the prospect of dropping their tariffs or making other concessions in response to American tariffs, and immediately went into\u00a0public outrage<\/a>. At the same time, some early actors have offered generous agreements and may be poised to quickly conclude their trade disputes as Trump appears eager to strike deals. Lenient terms, moreover, may prompt other nations to follow suit in pursuing economic rapprochements with Washington.<\/p>\n

After\u00a0initially vowing to impose retaliatory tariffs<\/a>\u00a0of its own, the European Union has quickly reversed course and publicly floated a proposal on Monday to wipe away all tariff barriers with the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods as we have successfully done with many other trading partners. Because Europe is always ready for a good deal. So we keep it on the table,\u201d European Commission President\u00a0Ursula Von der Leyen<\/a>\u00a0said at a press conference.<\/p>\n

The EU\u00a0currently tariffs several U.S. exports<\/a>, including apparel, accessories, cotton and t-shirts at a 12% rate and vehicles at a 10% rate. Some Trump administration officials have also expressed frustration with EU value-added taxes (VAT) that increase the price of imported goods, but are not a traditional tariff.<\/p>\n

Trump spoke with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Monday morning via video call. Trump\u2019s own announcement indicated they had set the framework for a \u201ctough, but fair\u201d arrangement, though\u00a0Ishiba stated<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cJapan has been the biggest investor in the United States for five straight years and the tariff policies could hurt our Japanese companies\u2019 investment capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ishiba has further agreed to send a negotiating team to the United States in order to resolve the trade dispute. The country currently faces the prospect of a 24% tariff on all of its goods. Ishiba further suggested that he would present an arrangement to the Trump White House that would involve the expansion of Japanese purchases of American liquefied natural gas (LNG),\u00a0cars, and agricultural products,\u00a0Bloomberg reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we negotiate with the US we want to present a package. That will take some time, but we will make it a success,\u201d he said. Treasury Secretary\u00a0Scott Bessent<\/a>\u00a0on Monday confirmed he would lead the American negotiations and thanked the Japanese government for its \u201coutreach and measured approach to this process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel, for its part, has moved to eliminate all of its tariffs on American goods, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting with Trump on Monday at the White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recognize the position of the United States,\u201d Netanyahu said. \u201cIt says, you know, \u2018we\u2019re allowing other countries to put tariffs on us, but we don\u2019t put tariffs on them.\u2019 And, you know, I\u2019m a free trade champion, and free trade has to be fair trade.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think that\u2019s basically the position that you\u2019ve put forward, Mr. President, we are going to eliminate the tariffs, and rapidly,\u201d he vowed. \u201cI ended up [with] the opportunity to speak to Secretary Lupin yesterday. We talked about how we could affect this quickly, and I hope to bring the solution very quickly. We\u2019re not talking about intentions. We\u2019re not talking about, you know, just words. We\u2019re talking about results.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other key American trading partners, including Vietnam, Canada, and Argentina, have expressed interest in negotiating lowered tariffs or the elimination of trade barriers altogether, though the European, Japanese and Israeli proposals still appear to be further along.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s immediate reaction<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Chinese responded quickly to Trump\u2019s tariffs by imposing their own 34% tariff on American imports in retaliation. Trump, however, has offered Beijing an exit strategy from the trade dispute by threatening to cut off all negotiations entirely should they fail to walk back the tariff. To back up his threat, he further warned of an additional 50% tariff on Chinese goods if they declined.<\/p>\n

\u201c[I]f China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th. Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!\u201d\u00a0he warned<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He reiterated his warning to Beijing during the Monday conference with Netanyahu, saying \u201cI have great respect for China, but they can\u2019t do this with just, we\u2019re going to have one shot at this, and no other president is going to do this, what I\u2019m doing, and I\u2019ll tell you what, it\u2019s an honor to do it, because we have been just destroyed, what they\u2019ve done to our system.\u201d<\/p>\n

No pain, no gain<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s efforts are not without drawbacks for the United States, especially in the short term. Major indices have plummeted in recent days and prompted many calls from supporters to ease off the more substantive tariffs. Nevertheless, the administration has signaled it will move forward and prominent supporters have pointed to the drops as necessary sacrifices to achieve long-term benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there going to be some short term pain? Yes, but that\u2019s him pushing back against the elites,\u201d Utah state Rep. Trevor Lee, R, said on the\u00a0Just the News, No Noise<\/em>\u00a0television show. \u201cThat\u2019s him pushing back against those who have these big corporate corporations heavily involved in the stock market.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what this is going to do is not only help with the trade deficit, and quite frankly, the same tariffs he put on his first administration were kept on by the Biden administration, so they must have done something good there,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd long term, the stock market is going to rebound. It\u2019s going to be fine. It\u2019s not even lower than it\u2019s been the last eight years. It\u2019s still way up.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his press conference with Netanyahu, Trump addressed the tariff negotiations with the European Union and pointed to the need of constituent nations for American investment to keep their economies afloat. He particularly pointed to European need for American energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe European Union has been very, very bad to us. They don\u2019t take our cars like Japan, in that sense, they don\u2019t take our agricultural product, they don\u2019t take anything practically, and yet, they said millions of cars in a year, Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen, BMWs,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re sending millions and millions of cars into the US. But we don\u2019t have a car that\u2019s been sold to the European Union or other places. But let\u2019s go for the European Union, and it\u2019s not going to be that way,\u201d he went on. \u201cIt\u2019s got to be fair and reciprocal. It\u2019s got to be fair. It\u2019s not fair. We have a deficit with the European Union of $350 billion and it\u2019s going to disappear fast,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd one of the reasons, and one of the ways that that can disappear easily and quickly, is they\u2019re going to have to buy our energy from us, because they need it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2013 \u2013 \u2013<\/p>\n

Ben Whedon and Steven Richards are reporters for Just the News.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
Reprinted with permission from Just the News<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
\n

The post Art of the Tariff Deal: Dozens of Foreign Powers Negotiate for Free Trade Instead of Retaliation<\/a> first appeared on The Star News Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/thestarnewsnetwork.com\/2025\/04\/08\/art-of-the-tariff-deal-dozens-of-foreign-powers-negotiate-for-free-trade-instead-of-retaliation\/ by Ben Whedon and Steven Richards \u00a0 Many politicians…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":16046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-daily-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16191"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16192,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16191\/revisions\/16192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}