Baseline tariff 10% on all trade unless 'exceptional' offer made: Trump

After a UK trade deal retaining a 10% tariff, US officials urge Trump to maintain at least 10% levies on all imports to curb the trade deficit and boost domestic manufacturing

By Skylar Woodhouse

   

President Donald Trump said that he would “always” impose a minimum 10 per cent tariff on trading partners — before quickly adding that “there could be an exception,” underscoring the difficulty discerning the US approach to dozens of trade deals under negotiation.

 

“You are going to always have a baseline,” Trump said at the White House on Friday. “I mean, there could be an exception. At some point we’ll see somebody does something exceptional for us. It’s always possible. But basically, you have a baseline of a minimum of 10 per cent and some of them will be much higher.” 

 

Following a framework agreement announced with the UK on Thursday that maintained a 10 per cent tariff on British goods, administration officials have insisted that Trump keep at least 10 per cent levies on all imported goods to help address deficit concerns and drive domestic manufacturing.

 

“The President is determined to continue with that 10 per cent baseline tariff,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier Friday. “I just spoke to him about it.” 

 

But as Trump indicated a greater willingness to negotiate in his subsequent public comments, trading partners calibrating how and if to negotiate with the US were again offered mixed messages.

 

Trump was also asked about weekend negotiations with China, where officials will be looking for a pathway to scale back punishing tariffs both nations have imposed on one another. Earlier Friday, Trump posted to social media to indicate a tariff reduction from 145 per cent to 80 per cent could be appropriate. 

 

While speaking to the press, Trump said he had determined a tariff level for Chinese goods he would not be willing to go below, but declined to say if it was 80 per cent or lower.

 

“We’ll see how that all works out,” Trump said.