U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing-in ceremony for the new U.S. ambassador to China, former U.S. Senator David Perdue, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 7, 2025.
Leah Millis | Reuters
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would not consider lowering the United States’ 145% tariffs on China in order to spur trade-war negotiations with Beijing.
Trump flatly answered “no” when asked at the White House if he was open to pulling back on the steep import duties to get China to the negotiating table.
Trump’s commitment to his tariffs came three days before U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was scheduled to meet with his Chinese counterpart in Switzerland to discuss trade and economic issues.
China said earlier Wednesday that the U.S. requested that meeting, and that Beijing remained “firmly” opposed to Trump’s tariff hikes heading into the talks.
Asked what he expected to come out of the meeting in Europe, Trump said, “We’ll see … we were losing a trillion dollars a year, now we’re not losing anything, you know? It’s the way I look at it.”
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