The next 11 weeks will be a crucial test for a president who arises as the main sales manufacturer, since his consultants have the race to achieve what no other administration has previously done and to achieve dozens of individual trade agreements with other governments.
President Trump has promised major profits for American trade, and the officers from Japan, South Korea, India and elsewhere have urged agreements to prevent the punishment of tariffs. However, trading experts say that the administration has set up an apparently impossible task, since traditional trade agreements usually take months or years to negotiate.
Mr. Trump tried to use tariffs as a lever to achieve quick agreements, and his trade advisor Peter Navarro promised “90 deals in 90 days”. But the taxes create chaos and financial pain for many companies and have not brought some of the largest trading partners in America, including China.
Some US trade in China have imposed on the products of the other three-digit tariffs on the products of the others, and a wave of bankruptcies, especially for small US companies that rely on Chinese imports, appear to be emerging when the trade barriers are maintained.
Some Trump officials recognize that the situation with China is not sustainable and strategy for reducing tariffs between the countries, two people who are familiar with the discussions. Another person who was familiar with the discussions said that the administrative officers were concerned about the goal on the stock exchange, who had experienced intensive volatility and some of his worst trading days in years. The S&P 500 has dropped by 10 percent since Mr. Trump's term on January 20.
On Wednesday from the Oval Office, Mr. Trump said that he wanted to make a contract with China. But he said what happens to his tariffs for China, “depends on them”. “He denied any concerns about what the tariffs do for small companies, but said that the high tariff” basically means that China does not do business with us. “
He also claimed that the United States had spoken to 90 countries who wanted to do all the shops. “Too many to handle them fully, but we will be fair for them,” he said.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump signaled that the 145 percent tariff, which he placed on the Chinese imports, could decrease. “It won't be nearly as high,” he said. “It will come down considerably. But it won't be zero.”
So far, officials from the United States and China have not had any material discussions about the trade spit. Trump officers believe that the Chinese economy is susceptible to the United States in view of its dependence on exports.
“President Trump was clear: China has to make a contract with the United States of America,” said Kush Desai, a spokesman for the White House.
Scott Bessent, the finance minister, dismissed speculation on Wednesday that the president was considering reducing the tariffs that he had imposed on any negotiations with Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, China. He emphasized that all movements for the de -escalation of the trade voltages should be mutual.
“I do not think that both sides believe that the current tariff levels are sustainable,” Bessent told reporters. “This is the equivalent of an embargo, and a break between the two countries in the trade does not fit every interest.”
On Wednesday, Guo Jiakun, the spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, confirmed that China would not be bullied by US tariff threats.
“If the United States really wants to solve problems through dialogue and negotiations, it should stop threatening and forcing it and participating with China on the basis of equality, respect and mutual benefit,” he said. “It is not the right way to agree to China and constantly put China under pressure to maximize China and will not work.”
The customs threats of Mr. Trump have conducted urgency for other governments and motivated them to start discussions with the United States about the removal of tariffs and other trading barriers. On April 9, just a few hours after the president had raised almost 60 countries to stiff tariffs, he paused it for 90 days and said that he would give the governments the opportunity to negotiate trade agreements instead.
This week, Karoline Leavitt, the press spokesman for the White House, said that the Trump government had received 18 suggestions on paper and that the trading team was “meeting 34 countries alone”.
“A lot of progress is made,” she said. “We move at Trump speed to ensure that these businesses are completed in the name of the American worker and the American people.”
When asked whether the tariffs actually worked, she replied: “Do you have a little patience and you will see.”
The negotiation of so many business at the same time makes considerable challenges. Many of Mr. Trump's departments are still understaffed, with officials not yet confirmed. Torsten Slok, the chief economist at Apollo Global Management, an investment company, wrote online that on average the trade agreements signed by the United States took 18 months and for 45 months to implement.
“While the markets are waiting for trade negotiations with 90 countries at the same time,” he wrote, “global trade is growing with problems that we saw during the covid.
Another hurdle that says people familiar with the negotiations say that foreign governments say that they do not know exactly what the Trump government wants. And given Mr. Trump's unpredictable demands, you are not sure whether his MPs are authorized to complete a deal with you.
Greta Peisch, a former trade officer who is now a partner of the law firm Wiley, said that the tight time axis has raised questions about whether degrees have been completed in the next few months “Preliminary or aspiration” Rather as a actual trade agreement. She also said the economic advantages could be limited.
“If you look at some of these trade relationships, the needle will simply not move much in relation to the change in the trading currents in a short time,” she said.
The South Korean finance and trade ministers were with Mr. Bessent and Jamieson Greer, the sales representative of the United States, on Thursday. Officials from Thailand, Japan, India and other countries should also have discussions in Washington this week.
During a visit to Neu -Delhi on Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance announced the outline for a potential trade agreement with India, which would increase the trade between the countries, reduce Indian obstacles to US exports and to fold the discussions about defense, energy and strategic technologies.
While the Trump administration has announced that some shops could be completed quickly, first sessions have pointed out that conversations could be more complicated, especially for large trading partners such as Japan.
The two nations have trade disputes that extend over industries such as steel and auto parts for decades. And some discussed agreements – for example a project in which Japan, South Korea and Taiwan could invest in a pipeline to export liquefied natural gas from Alaska – could take at least five years to be realized.
“Tokyo wants to keep the alliance and keep peace with Trump without giving up Japan's interests,” wrote Daniel Russel, Vice President of the Policy Institute of Asia Society, in a recently carried out analysis. “The Japanese government is ready to increase the investments in the USA and buy more American goods, but will resist, rush and put pressure on it.”
The South Korean officials also seem to be ready to discuss commercial weight weights, buy more natural gas and revive the US shipbuilding industry. However, it is not clear that the Korean government is able to negotiate aggressively via a deal because the country's president was charged and a election will only be held on June 3.
On Wednesday from Washington, the British Chancellor of the exchangers, Rachel Reeves, spoke no plan to plunge into a trade agreement with the United States.
Ms. Reeves, who was supposed to meet Mr. Bessent, said she wanted to reduce trade barriers between Great Britain and other countries, but there were fixed boundaries that their government would not cross, such as the change in food or car safety standards.
Discussions seem to be more difficult with larger trading partners like the European Union. European officials have expressed frustration on a lack of clear goals of the Trump government.
“You would like more clarity about expectations,” said Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commissioner responsible for the economy, on Wednesday at the Semafor World Economy Summit. He said that European officials had submitted “concrete proposals”, such as:
“We try to find a solution and a way forward,” he said. “But we also showed without a solution that we are also ready to defend our companies.”
EU officials have created lists of American products to which they can set their own tariffs for retaliation and work to diversify their trade relationships.
Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, told a German newspaper last week that “they had” countless talks with heads of state and government around the world who want to work with us on the new order “, including Iceland, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Mexico.
“The West when we knew it no longer existed,” she said.
Choe Sang-Hun, Eshe Nelson and Alan Rapport contributed the reporting. Siyi Zhao has contributed research.