President Trump's plan, which charges cleaning fees for most American trading partners, proposes proposals for governments around the world to make calls, send delegations to Washington, and lowering import taxes to avoid taxation.
On Monday, European officials offered to drop tariffs on cars and industrial products imported from the US to zero in return for the same treatment. The Israeli Prime Minister was expected to personally petition Trump on Monday at a White House meeting. In a call last week, Vietnam's top leader offered to remove tariffs on American goods, but Indonesia prepared to send a high-level delegation to Washington, D.C. to “negotiate directly with the US government.”
Even Lesotho, a small, inland country in South Africa, had gathered delegations to send to Washington to protest tariffs on the US, including Calvin Klein and Levi's denim.
Trump and his advisors have given mixed signals as to whether the US is willing to negotiate. On Sunday, Trump said tariffs remained intact until the US trade deficit disappears. In other words, the US is no longer buying more than it sells from these countries. However, the administration still seemed to welcome foreign offers. Foreigners are eager to prevent more taxes from happening before they come into effect on Wednesday.
On Monday, the president said “negotiations with other countries that have called for a meeting will be held soon” as markets reacted to day three, threatening Trump to further punish tariffs on China.
“Nations around the world are talking to us,” the president wrote socially on Monday morning's truth. “Tough but fair parameters are set. I spoke to the Japanese Prime Minister this morning. He is sending a top team to negotiate!”
Since the president announced tariffs last Wednesday, stock market turmoil has prompted speculation that the president is willing to attack several transactions to recover the tariffs. On NBC's “Meet the Press,” Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford predicted tariffs would be “a short-term issue while negotiations are actually happening.”
“I think when the president starts to announce some negotiations in different countries, we will start to see the market settling.
But Trump and many of his advisors have downplayed the prospect of immediate change. On Sunday night, Trump told Air Force 1 reporters he would not reverse tariffs in other countries unless the trade deficits the US operates with China, the European Union and other countries disappear.
“We lost hundreds of millions of dollars a year in China,” Trump told Air Force 1 reporters. “And I'm not going to do any business unless I solve that problem,” he added, “I'm willing to deal with China, but they have to settle the surplus.”
The tariffs that will take effect Wednesday range from 10% to 40% in nearly 60 countries. They will be calculated based on the US trade deficit with countries and will be added to the 10% global collection that came into effect on Saturday.
Some countries, such as Europe and Canada, have threatened to impose retaliatory tariffs on American goods, while others have decided to refrain from Trump's rage. On Monday, Trump responded angrily to China's decision to retaliate, saying he would “impose additional tariffs on 50% of China on April 9th.”
European Commission Chairman Ursula von der Leyen repeated the threat of retaliatory tariffs on Monday, even if he proposed dropping tariffs to zero between the US and Europe. “We are also ready to respond through measures and protect our interests,” she said.
Taiwan's president, Lai Qingte, said in a video address on Sunday night that Taiwan has no plans to retaliate against tariffs. He added that the investment commitments made by Taiwanese companies in the US will remain unchanged as long as they remain in national interest.
Throughout Asia, where Trump has targeted some of his toughest taxes and factories specialize in making electronics, auto parts and shoes for the US, leaders have offered to attack deals and work on establishing a meeting with Trump. The tariffs are particularly threatening to multinational companies that have moved factories from China to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand in recent years after Trump opened a trade war with China in his first presidency.
On Monday, the Philippines' Commerce Secretary said the country will reduce tariffs on goods coming from the US and will meet “soon” with the US economic team. Cambodian leaders wrote to Trump on Friday at 49%, facing the highest rates in Asia, saying they were quickly reducing tariffs in 19 categories of American imports. Thailand, which faces 36% tariffs on exports, has said it is “ready to engage in dialogue.”
In Vietnam, where many people were hoping for a tariff of around 10%, the announcement of a 46% tariff came as a blow. Vietnam's deputy prime minister, Ho Duc Phok, was scheduled to depart Sunday for a trip to the US with a delegation that includes executives from two major airlines in the country that are committed to purchasing Boeing aircraft.
Vietnam's Ministry of Trade has called on the Trump administration to suspend tariffs of 46%, according to a statement on the government's website, and has requested a call with US trade representative Jamieson Greer as soon as possible.
In a call with Trump last week, Vietnam's top leader has pledged to zero tariffs on liquefied natural gas, cars and other US goods, according to a statement from the Vietnamese government, and suggested that his counterparts do the same.
“There was a very productive call for Lamb. Lamb said he wanted to cut tariffs to zero if Vietnam could agree with the US,” Trump wrote in a post on his true social platform on Friday morning.
But speaking about CNBC this morning on Monday, White House trade counselor Peter Navarro said the offer to reduce Vietnam's tariffs was not enough to convince Trump about concerns about other barriers beyond tariffs that he would use to block US exports, such as taxes and regulations.
“When they come to us and say, we go to zero tariffs, which means nothing to us.
Navarro also urged the European Union to drop barriers like taxes that add value. “You steal from Americans how possible, so don't say we're going to lower tariffs,” he said.
In Japan, where stock markets fell more than 7% on Monday, Prime Minister Isbaiba said he would meet with Trump to discuss taxation and emphasize that Japan is “not doing anything unfair.”
Japanese Commerce Minister Yoji Yoji did not hide his disappointment with the tariffs. He told reporters he had held an “online meeting” with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to tell him that “the unilateral tariff procedures were very disappointing.”
“The Isba government would prefer to negotiate rather than escalate,” said Tobias Harris, a Japanese visionary company that advises clients on Japanese politics. “I'm struggling to decide who someone can negotiate with.”
Mut traveled to Washington last month, and tariffs loomed for urgent consultations with Rutnick. Muto argued that Japan would be exempted based on the roughly $1 trillion investments in the United States by his country, including the huge car factories built by Toyota and other Japanese automakers.
South Korean trade minister Cheong In-Kyo was also planning to visit Washington this week to try and lower the 25% tariffs imposed on South Korea's goods. Chong is expected to meet with Trump administration officials, including Greer, and will raise concerns about the new obligation and seek ways to minimize the impact on South Korea's export-driven economy.
European officials have also gathered in Washington to try to negotiate. On Friday, EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic met with his American counterpart through a video conference about “Frank,” a two-hour meeting and described the conversation, pledged that the conversation would continue.
Sefcovic has traveled repeatedly to Washington in recent weeks, but so far progress has halted. EU officials who met with Lutnick and Greer discovered they were not ready to negotiate prior to the April 2nd tariff announcement.
European leaders have expressed their willingness to lower tariffs in some sectors, hanging other potential carrots, including buying more American liquid natural gas and increasing military spending. But they are also preparing to retaliate, hoping that returning with the power of the European economy will drive the US to the negotiation table.
EU officials have spent the past few weeks refined a list of anti-abuses that are expected to be concluded from April 15th. They will send a refined list to member state representatives on Monday, and votes for the list are expected on Wednesday.
The first wave of retaliation only addresses tariffs on steel and aluminum, but policymakers have shown that if negotiations fail, more will come. Some state officials are even open to raiding large American tech companies with trade barriers, and EU policymakers have shown that all options are on the table.
European countries are exporting many drugs, cars and machinery to the US as fresh US tariffs begin, causing businesses all over the continent to suffer.
Only a handful of countries, including Mexico, Canada and Russia, have fled Trump's new taxation. In an interview Thursday, Mexico's Deputy Secretary of International Trade, Luis Rosend Gutiels Romano said Mexico has worked hard to establish a constructive and positive dialogue with the US over the past five weeks, and the decision to exclude Mexico and Canada from tariffs is a signal for a trade agreement between the nations.
Gutierrez said Lutonic spoke weekly with Mexican economic secretary Marcelo Ebrard or at a meeting at Washington's Department of Commerce. Mexican officials assured Americans that Mexican exports would be different from those from Vietnam or China.
Reports were provided by Martin Fackler, Tung Ngo, Sun Narin, Meaghan Tobin, River Akira Davis, and Sang Hun-Choe.
