Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday said President Trump will be ready for trade negotiations "at a point," while the administration has showed no signs of backing off its implementation of sweeping tariffs.
Bessent was asked on Fox Business Network about opening trade negotiations with Japan, and he suggested that Trump will be ready to negotiate with all trading partners.
“As I advised on many shows on April 2nd, I suggested that the foreign officials keep your cool, do not escalate, and come to us with your offers and how you're going to drop tariffs, how you're going to drop nontariff barriers, how going to stop your currency manipulation, how you're going to stop the subsidized financing,” Bessent said. “And at a point, President Trump will be ready to negotiate.”
Earlier on Monday, Trump was asked about the mixed messaging from the White House about tariffs and negotiations. Top adviser Peter Navarro said in a Financial Times opinion piece on Monday that the tariffs are “not a negotiation.”
“They can both be true. There can be permanent tariffs and there can also be negotiations,” Trump said.
He also said he was not considering a pause on tariffs and said that other countries have been coming to him to negotiate.
“We have many, many countries that are coming to negotiate deals with us and they’re going to be fair deals and in certain cases, they’re going to be paying substantial tariffs. They’ll be fair deals,” Trump said.
The president has been adamant that aggressive tariffs on dozens of countries, which are set to go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, were a necessary tool, even as his announcement has rattled financial markets and raised concerns over a recession and economic slowdown.
He also doubled down on his threat to impose an additional 50 percent tariff on China. After he announced a 34 percent tariff on Chinese imports as part of what he characterized as reciprocal tariffs last week, Beijing responded by announcing a 34 percent tariff on American imports, leading to Trump’s warning on Monday.
