Trump floats slashing China tariffs to 80% with 'many' deals 'in the hopper'
The US is considering slashing its tariffs on China's goods at trade talks this weekend, after President Trump's promised that the 145% rate was "coming down."
On Friday morning, Trump posted on Truth Social: "80% Tariff on China seems right! Up to Scott B," referring to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Bloomberg reported earlier that a more dramatic cut would be a first step, made in hopes of a matching tariff reduction by China.
The aim is to further deescalate the mounting trade war between the two countries, which threatens severe damage to the global economy — including to US businesses and consumers.
Optimism for a shift in US policy grew on Thursday as Trump announced a trade deal with the UK, the first for his administration since imposing — then pausing — sweeping "reciprocal" tariffs against all trading partners in early April. He said Friday that the US had "many trade deals in the hopper," and White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said over 20 more deals were "close to being resolved."
Trump said the "breakthrough" US-UK trade agreement would boost US export markets for agricultural products, including beef and ethanol.
As top US officials, including Bessent, get set to meet with Chinese counterparts this weekend, Trump has suggested he might meet with Chinese President Xi after the initial talks.
China has reportedly compiled a list of US goods exempt from its 125% tariffs, aiming to ease trade tensions without making public concessions. But Trump has previously defended the China tariffs, claiming China "deserves it" and would likely absorb the costs.
Meanwhile, US negotiations with the UK's neighbors in the EU have taken a different tone, with the EU on Thursday unveiling a list of US products it will target with tariffs in the event trade negotiations fail.
On the economic front, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell emphasized on Wednesday that while sentiment has deteriorated, the tariff "shock hasn't hit yet" as the central bank held interest rates steady. The scale of tariff disruption on the economy will largely depend on how quickly trade deals are reached. After meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday, Trump reiterated that the onus to make offers falls on other countries.
"We don't have to sign deals," he said at the White House. "They have to sign deals with us."
I guess he got tired of waiting on Xi to call and is taking the same path he took with Putin. Make concessions before negotiations begin. Tough talk backed by weak actions.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Stocks rise as Trump says 'Many Trade Deals in the hopper'
US stocks opened higher on Friday after President Trump posted on social media, "Many Trade Deals in the hopper, all good (GREAT!) ones!"
The Trump administration has telegraphed in the past week that the first deal it made with the UK represents a breakthrough agreement, with more trade deals to come. Investors will be particularly focused on the outcome of "exploratory" talks with Chinese officials this weekend.
"I've been briefed on about 24 other deals that are this close to being resolved," White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CNBC on Friday. "That's going to be very settling for markets."
To now having a partial agreement with Great Britain and 24 in the works? Maybe calculators are too complicated for trump and someone needs to give him an abacus. Or maybe he was just telling a bold face lie.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Trump’s first trade ‘deal’ doesn’t bode well for the rest of the world Allison Morrow Analysis by Allison Morrow, CNN 4 minute read Updated 9:18 AM EDT, Fri May 9, 2025
New York CNN — OK, so! After a month of negotiations, we finally have a “full and comprehensive” trade agreement with our old pals across the pond.
Huge news! What a relief, right? Pop the champagne, the trade war nightmare is almost over…
What’s that? What’s in it, you ask? Like, what is the “deal” part of the deal?
OK, so it’s more of a concept of a deal. If a trade deal is, like, Michelangelo’s David, this is more like a block of marble. Or really it’s like a receipt from the marble guy that says we’ve placed an order for a block of marble.
Maybe put the champagne back in the fridge.
Here is what the US and the UK announced Thursday: President Donald Trump’s team took the US tax on British imports from 10% to *checks notes* 10%. Yes, it is the exact same tariff rate that Trump announced on April 2, but with some fun new carve-outs:
British cars: That Bentley you’ve had your eye on was going to be taxed at 27.5%, but now it’s only 10%. Great news for that sliver of Americans in the market for a Land Rover, Jaguar, Rolls-Royce or Aston Martin. No other consumer goods were mentioned. Planes: British companies can now send plane parts to the US tariff-free. In return, British Airways is expected to order 30 Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets, according to Bloomberg. Steel and aluminum: Taxes on steel and what the Brits call “aluminium” (adorable) will be scrapped. Beef: Both countries get a bunch of tariff-free exports on commodities including beef and other agricultural products. That’s honestly it — there are no more details, as both sides said specifics are still being ironed out. It’s not all that surprising, given that traditionally trade deals require months or even years of painstaking talks.
“A trade agreement where the details are still being negotiated is not an agreement,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, on social media. “This does not provide the clarity necessary to lift the fog of uncertainty created by a trade war of choice.”
To hear the White House announce it on Thursday, though, you’d think they just won a Nobel prize and a gold medal. In a Truth Social post, Trump said it was “a very big and exciting day.”
President Donald Trump is flanked by aides as he makes an announcement about a trade deal with the UK in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 8. Related article One trade ‘deal’ done, 199 to go
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called it “historic” with what sounded like a straight face, though it should be noted he joined the Oval Office event via speakerphone, because the Trump administration cobbled this whole spectacle together at the last minute. (The British ambassador to the US even said that Trump called Starmer in a “very typical, 11th-hour intervention.”)
The Brits, for their part, said even an imperfect deal is better than no deal at all.
Asked by reporters in England whether this deal marks an improvement on the US-UK relationship of six months ago, before Trump took office, Starmer replied: “The question you should be asking is: Is it better than where we were yesterday?”
Which is a gentle British way of saying: Look, we’re all doing our little dances in the Trump show to avoid tempting the wrath of the leader of the world’s biggest economy.
Wall Street, similarly, isn’t letting perfection be the enemy of the good. Stocks rallied in the US as investors – hungry for any sign Trump is going to relent on the trade war – embraced the White House’s optimism.
Just for kicks, let’s say this is an actual framework for a real trade deal that will get hammered out over the next few weeks. That is better than nothing.
But it took more than a month to roll out this titanic nothingburger with one of our closest allies. An ally that, with all due affection to our British brethren, accounts for just 3% of all US trade, Justin Wolfers, professor of economics at the University of Michigan, told CNN.
That doesn’t bode well for the thousands of American businesses that are currently paralyzed by Trump’s 145% tariffs on most imports from China, an adversary that’s not so charmed by the president’s 11th-hour shenanigans and is America’s third-largest trading partner.
US and Chinese envoys are set to meet this weekend in Geneva. But American officials aren’t even suggesting a trade deal will come out of it – the best that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he’s hoping for is “de-escalation.”
Bottom line: Very little has changed about the state of the global economy since the US-UK “deal” was announced. We still have a 22% effective tariff rate today – the highest in more than 100 years – compared with 2.5% before Trump took office.
“Overwhelmingly the most important fact about today’s trade deal is that the 10% across the board tariffs are staying,” Wolfers said on social media Thursday. “Tiny tweaks here and there with some trading partners won’t change that. The US is a high tariff country for the foreseeable future, and the trade war continues.”
The Trump administration's latest trade deal with Britain unfairly penalizes US automakers that have partnered with Canada and Mexico, a trade group representing Detroit automakers said Thursday.
In a sharply-worded statement, the American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC) said the US-UK trade deal "hurts American automakers, suppliers, and auto workers," according to the group's president Matt Blunt.
The deal unveiled Thursday between US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer lowers the tariff on British vehicles to 10 percent from 27.5 percent on the first 100,000 cars shipped from Britain to the United States.
In contrast, AAPC members Ford, General Motors Company and Jeep-maker Stellantis now face import tariffs of 25 percent on autos assembled in Canada and Mexico. The Detroit companies organized their supply chains around the 2020 US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which Trump negotiated in his first term.
"We are disappointed that the administration prioritized the UK ahead of our North American partners," Blunt said. "Under this deal, it will now be cheaper to import a UK vehicle with very little US content than a USMCA compliant vehicle from Mexico or Canada that is half American parts."
Trump last week unveiled some steps to lessen the impact of tariffs on imported auto parts in moves applauded by GM and Ford.
The Trump administration will allow companies that assemble autos in the United States to deduct a fraction of the cost of imported parts for two years to give the industry enough time to relocate supply chains.
In another change, the administration said companies wouldn't face a 25 percent levy on imported steel or aluminum in addition to a 25 percent levy for an imported vehicle.
But last weeks' changes did not soften the 25 percent tariff on imported finished autos.
The Trump administration plans to negotiate separate agreements with Japan, South Korea and the European Union, all of which export finished autos to the United States.
"We hope this preferential access for UK vehicles over North American ones does not set a precedent for future negotiations with Asian and European competitors," Blunt said.
This is the type of consequences industry faces when they organize their supply chain around agreements trump made. They expected he would honor his word. Hopefully they won't make that mistake again.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Stocks declined Friday after President Donald Trump ramped up his trade fight again, slapping a tariff on Apple for foreign-made iPhones and recommending new stiffer duties on the European Union.
Apple shares shed more than 2% after Trump posted on Truth Social that iPhones sold in the U.S. must be made in the U.S. and if they are not “a tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple.” The move against Apple by Trump is the first against a specific company in his tariff rollout this year.
AAPL 5-day chart Separately, the president said trade discussions with the EU “are going nowhere” and so he’s “recommending a straight 50% tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025.”
Trump’s actions come at a time when tariff tensions were easing. Trump in April implemented duties on most nations in the world, which rattled the stock market and nearly put the S&P 500 in a bear market. The president then paused the stiffest tariffs for 90 days and hatched some preliminary agreements with the U.K. and China, causing stocks to recover. The S&P 500 got back to even on the year last week.
Investors were buying stocks on speculation that more agreements would be rolling out with various nations during this three-month pause period. Friday’s actions by Trump could mean that hope was misplaced.
“We’ve had this de-escalation tailwind at the market’s back for like six weeks now — and the market has had one of its best six-week stretches in the last 75 years — and a re-escalation of trade war rhetoric threatens that. I don’t think we’ll retest the lows or anything like that, unless it really ramps up, but this is certainly a step in the wrong direction from the market’s perspective,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird, in an interview with CNBC.
Friday’s declines added to the market’s weekly losses. The S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq are all down more than 2% this week.
Looking ahead, Rick Wedell, the president and chief investment officer at RFG Advisory warned that this “roller coaster ride” of de-escalating and re-escalating tariff tensions is likely to be a permanent fixture of Trump’s second term.
“It is very important for investors to understand that this lingering trade issue is likely to be here for, I think, the duration of this administration. I don’t think they are going to look the other way on trade at any point. I think they think of this as a defining characteristic of the administration’s legacy is fixing the international trade deals,” he said. “I would just encourage investors to never get lulled into a false sense either way.”
Tim Cook was on stage with trump at his inauguration. Now he is attacking Cook's business. But that's how users operate. They use you for whatever their purpose is at the time. You would have thought these billionaires would have learned that by now.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
‘Buckle up, this ride’s far from over’: Trump’s EU tariffs delay is no guarantee trade tensions won’t escalate, market watchers say
Investors should “buckle up” for more volatility as the potential for a trade war has not completely dissipated despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s delay of rolling out 50% tariffs on the European Union, analysts warn.
Trump announced on Sunday that he had agreed to push the rollout of the punitive import duties back to July 9, following a call with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The president had initially called for a 50% tariff on EU goods to begin on June 1. He accused the bloc in a social media post of being “very difficult to deal with,” and said trade negotiations with the EU were “going nowhere.”
European stocks rebounded Monday morning, moving into positive territory, after previously sinking on Friday in response to Trump’s fresh tariffs threats.
Von der Leyen said in a post on X over the weekend that the EU was “ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively.”
“The EU and US share the world’s most consequential and close trade relationship,” she said. “To reach a good deal, we would need the time until July 9.”
European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said in a post on X later Monday that he had “good calls” with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and that they would “continue to stay in constant contact.”
But while Trump’s announcement of the delay has granted the two parties some more breathing space, market watchers warned Monday that a lot remains at stake.
Shock tactics
Berenberg Chief Economist Holger Schmieding told CNBC that the six-week window until tariffs kick in was probably not enough time to “settle all detailed questions” – but he argued it should be sufficient to put the framework of a trade agreement in place.
“It should be enough to get an agreement like the one between the U.S. and the U.K.,” he said on CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition” on Monday.
″[It] is basically a matter of political will, and that depends a bit on the U.S. side,” he added. “If they do have the political will, we should really be able to have such an agreement with, probably in the end, a 10% tariff from the U.S. on all EU imports, hardly any EU retaliation, and [scaling back] a few sector-specific things … with some of the details to be finalized after July 9.”
However, Schmieding noted that if the end result were a 20% or 30% blanket tariff on EU goods, “the EU would have no choice” but to impose “significant countermeasures” against the United States.
Labeling Trump “an interesting negotiator,” Schmieding argued that the president often tries to shock those with whom he’s negotiating into agreeing to concessions. But the EU, he said, was unlikely to capitulate to these tactics.
“We just have to stay calm, and from the European side, we just have to negotiate – we have to remember from the European side that our market is big, that we do matter in economic terms to the U.S. quite a lot, not just vice versa,” he added. “So these negotiations should be negotiations among equals. The European Union is not a region which can be scared into just throwing in the towel.”
‘Unclear’ what Trump administration wants from Europe
Guntram Wolff, senior fellow at Bruegel, told CNBC that despite the extension of the tariffs deadline, “massive uncertainty” remained.
“This uncertainty is bad for business, it’s bad for consumers, and frankly it’s an unnecessary step in the negotiations,” he told CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition.”
“It’s very unclear what exactly the U.S. President wants,” Wolff added. “That’s the biggest obstacle at this stage, that in the negotiations the EU has made offers, has made proposals, but it doesn’t really know what the president wants.”
According to Wolff, the EU is “playing it rather well.”
“The U.K. has given in on all kinds of demands, China is the other extreme, [it] has really escalated … to a point where the U.S. had to blink, had to give in,” he explained. “Europe sort of tries to take a middle path.”
The EU does have capacity to retaliate should massive tariffs be levied on its exports by the Trump administration, Wolff added, pointing to the importance of its pharmaceutical products to the U.S., and the potential for retaliatory measures to be implemented in the services sector.
“But the EU so far has decided not to do it, really to keep a climate of de-escalation,” he said. “But at the end of the day, that might not be enough now.”
‘This ride’s far from over’
Naeem Aslam, chief investment officer at London’s Zaye Capital Markets, told CNBC on Monday the tariffs delay had sparked a “tentative risk-on rally” – but like Wolff, he cautioned that much remained at stake.
“Looking ahead, the EU-US trade dance is a high-stakes tango, with July 9 as the next flashpoint,” he said in an email.
“The EU’s dangling phased tariff cuts and “mutual respect” talks, but Trump’s America-first bravado could turn negotiations into a slugfest, rattling supply chains and fanning inflationary flames.”
Aslam added that sectors like tech and industrials were particularly “braced for whiplash.”
“Markets will hang on every tweet and trade talk whisper, with investors betting on whether this delay is a genuine olive branch or just Trump reloading for a bigger tariff showdown,” he said. “Buckle up; this ride’s far from over.”
The market volatility is always the case when you have a moron that has the power to upset the apple cart like Trump.. He's no stready eddy...The market loves a steady hand at the helm.
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
‘TACO’: Wall Street Mocks Trump With 4-Letter Code to Call Bets Against Him David Gilmour May 28th, 2025, 6:30 am Share 4864 comments Trump (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Wall Street traders have developed a biting new acronym for a strategy that’s become surprisingly lucrative for President Donald Trump’s whiplash-inducing trade policy: TACO – “Trump Always Chickens Out.”
Reportedly first coined by Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong, the term has quickly gained traction among investors who are profiting from what they say is a predictable pattern: Trump threatens steep tariffs, the markets plunge, and days later he backs off in a way that prompts a rebound.
The latest example came over the weekend. On Friday, Trump sent markets reeling by announcing sweeping 50% tariffs on European imports. But by Sunday, the White House abruptly paused the move, citing a fresh round of trade talks. When the markets reopened on Tuesday, stocks surged.
The TACO trade strategy is reportedly being openly embraced by some investors, according to the New York Post.
“Once he delivers bad news, investors are buying those stocks when they are beaten down waiting for him to chicken out and watching those stocks rebound in value,” said Ted Jenkin, president of Exit Stage Left Advisors, in an interview with the outlet.
Economists say this type of market behavior, explicitly betting against a sitting president’s follow-through, is unprecedented.
University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers told Barron’s on Tuesday that “there was no BACO trade” – referring to former President Joe Biden – and “no CACO trade” referring to former President Bill Clinton.
“It was always taken as a given that when the president spoke on Monday, he would likely still mean it on Tuesday,” he added. “That’s no longer true. But what’s really hard is that it’s not even obvious when it’ll be true, and when it won’t be. Madness.”
Those with lots of extra money to spend do not mind a volatile market or a few crashes along the way, buy low sell high or short sell, get in get out.
Which most small investors are NOT. Most are I think not large investors with a ton of spare cash. Most just worked and saved their whole life. They don't like a volatile market. They mostly prefer a market they can better predict.
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
Is it me, or have a lot of Trump supporters pulled in their horns, because they’re beginning to understand just what kind of major league sub-human scuzz they voted for?
Is it me, or have a lot of Trump supporters pulled in their horns, because they’re beginning to understand just what kind of major league sub-human scuzz they voted for?
To his credit, peen and Day ot Dawg are the only ones who sticking around. I (obviously) agree with very little of what they say and am not bashful of pointing out where I disagree and why... but I do want to give them credit for sticking around and keeping a little conversation going.
There are far more Trump-supporting posters who vanished pretty much instantaneously after Trump got to work.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
![[Linked Image from i28.photobucket.com]](http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c201/shadedog/mcenroe2.jpg)
