[ad_1]
U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is pausing his reciprocal tariffs for 90 days on 75 countries that have begun negotiations on trade with the U.S., lowering their tariff rate to the baseline of 10 per cent.
The pause was announced hours after his global tariff policy took effect at midnight Wednesday, capping a chaotic week for global financial markets and uncertainty about the world economy.
Trump also announced he was raising tariffs on China once again, to a staggering 125 per cent rate, “based on the lack of respect that China has show to the World’s Markets,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“Conversely, based on the fact that more than 75 Countries have called Representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and the USTR, to negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed relative to Trade, Trade Barriers, Tariffs, Currency Manipulation, and Non Monetary Tariffs, and that these Countries have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States, I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately,” he wrote.
U.S. markets surged in response to Trump’s announcement after sharp losses in the morning and nearly a week of vanishing wealth on Wall Street.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
The pause does not affect ongoing sector-specific tariffs on steel, aluminum and foreign auto sectors, or the 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods outside of free trade rules and 10 per cent levies on Canadian energy.
The White House did not immediately specify which countries would see a pause, but U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Vietnam, Japan, South Korea and India were among the countries he and other Trump administration officials were speaking with.
“Every country in the world who wants to come and negotiate, we are willing to hear you, we’re going to go down to a 10 per cent baseline tariff for them,” he told reporters outside the White House.
“China will be raised to 125 (per cent) due to their insistence on escalation.”
The new rate for China was the latest in a tit-for-tat trade war that has seen both countries increase tariffs on each other since Trump announced his reciprocal tariff policy last Wednesday. That program, which the White House says reflects countries’ tariffs and trade deficits with the U.S., set a 34 per cent rate for China on top of existing 20 per cent levies on Chinese goods.
China vowed to match the 34 per cent rate and ultimately raised duties on the U.S. to 84 per cent Wednesday, after the U.S. upped the Chinese tariff another 50 per cent.
Bessent said China’s continued escalation was an “own goal” that was a result of Trump’s overall strategy on forcing countries to the negotiating table.
“You might even say that (Trump) goaded China into a bad position,” he said. “They have shown themselves to the world to be the bad actors. We are willing to cooperate with our allies and with our trading partners who did not retaliate.
“It wasn’t a hard message: ‘Don’t retaliate, things will turn out well.’”
More to come…
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
[ad_2]
Source link