WASHINGTON: ( WNAM MONITORING ): President Donald Trump said Friday that the US must “make a great deal for America” as the US Treasury chief prepares to hold economic talks with Chinese officials in Switzerland.
“We have to make a great deal for America,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s upcoming meeting.
Asked if he would be disappointed if Bessent returns without an agreement, Trump responded, “No, not at all. We already made a great deal.”
“We’re not doing business with China right now. We lost $1 trillion last year with China, 1 trillion,” he said. “So, if you’re not going to do business with them, you’re not going to lose $1 trillion.”
The negotiations, set for Saturday, come amid efforts to ease tensions after the US imposed tariffs of up to 145% on Chinese imports earlier this year, prompting retaliatory tariffs from Beijing as high as 125%.
Asked about White House spokeswoman’s Karoline Leavitt’s remarks that a 10% baseline tariff on nearly all countries is here to stay, Trump confirmed the policy but said exceptions are possible.
“You are going to always have a baseline,” he said. “There could be an exception at some point. We’ll see –somebody does something exceptional for us. It’s always possible. But basically, you have a baseline of a minimum of 10%, and some of them will be much higher — 40%, 50%, 60% — as they’ve been doing to us over the years.”
