Tariff Flames: Trump's Global Economic Gambit

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Trump Team Hopes to Lower Tariffs in China Talks

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Bloomberg May 9 20:15 · 30.1k Views

The Trump administration is considering a significant tariff reduction in talks with China to ease economic pain and de-escalate tensions. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent leads the talks in Switzerland this weekend. Bloomberg's Tyler Kendall reports.

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Transcript

  • 00:00 And the savannas this morning, the US and China
  • 00:02 coming to the table.
  • 00:04 Mr.
  • 00:05 President, if the talks go well this weekend between Secretary Best and Ambassador, agree with your Chinese counterparts, not preemptively, but the talks go well, Would you then consider lowering the tariff rate on China?
  • 00:15 Right now
  • 00:16 you can't get any higher.
  • 00:17 It's at 145.
  • 00:18 So we know it's coming down.
  • 00:19 It's going to be very good for both countries.
  • 00:21 I would like to see China opened.
  • 00:23 I do think they have far more to gain than we do, in a sense.
  • 00:25 But I think we're going to have a very good,
  • 00:28 very good
  • 00:29 weekend.
  • 00:30 Hi, Mike.
  • 00:30 Yeah, sure.
  • 00:31 Here's the latest this morning.
  • 00:32 The first trade talks between US and Chinese officials beginning tomorrow in Geneva.
  • 00:37 Sources telling us here at Bloomberg, the US is targeting a reduction
  • 00:40 of the tariff rate below 60% as a first step.
  • 00:43 Joining us now, Bloomberg, Tyler Kendall for more.
  • 00:45 Hey, Tyler.
  • 00:47 Yeah.
  • 00:47 Hey, John.
  • 00:48 Good morning.
  • 00:48 Well, if the talks go well, Bloomberg News is reporting that U.S.
  • 00:51 officials feel that China may be willing to match that tariff rate below 60% and that it could be implemented as soon as next week.
  • 00:59 But people familiar caution us that things are far from certain.
  • 01:02 Not to mention that Bloomberg Economics says that they do not expect an immediate agreement or a permanent de escalation after these talks, but that if President Trump wants to get ahead of fears when it comes to empty shelves, tariff rates do need to come down significantly and fast.
  • 01:17 Now, the way House maintains that
  • 01:19 China really needs to be the one to deescalate first here.
  • 01:22 And that could look like a range of things, including increasing purchase orders, also maybe tightening controls when it comes to fentanyl flows, but then importantly, loosening curves on critical and rare earth minerals.
  • 01:33 Our reporting indicates the latter.
  • 01:35 That's pretty high on EU s s priority list.
  • 01:37 Now, of course, the other side of this is that China is holding firm that they would like the US to remove tariffs on a unilateral basis.
  • 01:44 They say that the US put the tariffs on 1st, so they should take take them off first.
  • 01:48 But it's something that this White House has publicly ruled out.
  • 01:51 At the same time, though, it's uncertain what the US will commit to and what the
  • 01:56 US is willing to accept.
  • 01:58 And officials tell us that's all by design.
  • 02:00 Going into this weekend, they are focused on strategic
  • 02:03 uncertainty.
  • 02:03 But John, President Trump made it pretty clear to Anne Marie in the Oval Office yesterday, he does think that these talks could be constructed.