Donald Trump said during a White House news conference that high tariffs on goods from China will “come down substantially, but it won’t be zero”.
Trump’s remarks were in response to earlier comments on Tuesday by treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who said that the high tariffs were unsustainable and that he expects a “de-escalation” in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
The US president said that the final tariff rate with China would come down “substantially” from the current 145%.
“It won’t be that high, not going to be that high,” Trump said.
China’s government was yet to respond to the news, but has consistently criticised Trump’s tariffs. On China’s social media platform, Weibo, Trump’s remarks trended under various hashtags including “Trump admitted defeat”.
Trump has shown no public indications that he plans to pullback his baseline 10% tariff, even as he has insisted he’s looking for other nations to cut their own import taxes and remove any non-tariff barriers that the administration says have hindered exports from the US.
China on Monday warned other countries against making trade deals with the United States that could negatively impact China.
If this gets confirmed and Trump indeed folds, this will be seen as one of those seminal events that confirm, beyond all the propaganda, a fundamental rebalancing of power between China and the US, and an end to the era of US economic dominance.
The impact on China’s side was much less pronounced: the CSI 300 Index is virtually unchanged, and so is the cost of China’s debt, standing at 1.67% for their 10Y bonds vs 4.4% for US 10Y bonds.
Due to the tariffs, the IMF just predicted a reduction of only 0.5% in China’s GDP growth (down to 4%) vs a loss of 0.9% for the US’s GDP (down to 1.8%), meaning that China would keep growing at more than twice the rate of the U.S. despite the tariffs, and would be much less affected by them than the U.S.
The US possibly no longer being able push other countries’ economic policies around is a much bigger deal than people realize
retreating, but claiming victory. so classic.
wE wOn tHe viEtNaM wAr
The last time the US fought China it amounted to that as well. And that was back when the PRC was a bombed out rural husk with little to no industry.
chinese century startin’ April 24th 2025, see you at the centennial
Art of The Fold
Some people, not all of them, but some, call me origami master
So weak. Folded like a cheap lawn chair.
Cheap lawn chairs hold up better than this.
Probably because they’re manufactured in China.
After silence from China… “Art of the Deal”, folks! 😂
Ah, so his buy orders finally went through.
Now we wait until his shorts are finalized again.
Exactly this. Wealth consolidation during crisis is the goal.
Very stable genius leading a very stable country doing very stable foreign policy
Of all the moves he could make now, this would be the worst. If you want to apply brutish tactics and force, you must be prepared to maintain that force until either you accomplish the stated goals or you’ve been so completely drained that you have to fold.
The USA is in neither position. This isn’t a gesture of magnanimity. This is just proof that he’s already made money off it somehow.
Going to make money off it. Once he flip flops on the tariffs, he’s going to make a shit ton of money in the market. But good news, all his corrupt billionaire friends will too, at the expense of the common man who voted for him. But don’t worry, he’ll spin it as a victory and the foaming at the mouth followers will eat it up like candy. /s About it being good, not the actual events.
I’d call him a chicken but that’d be an insult to chickens.
The art of the squeal!
Yes we’ve had first Suez crisis, but what about second Suez?
