Will Donald Trump back off from tariffs? US secretary of commerce responds

United States President Donald Trump is not backing down from the reciprocal tariffs he announced on as many as 60 countries, said the US secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick in an interview with CNN.

Calling the action a “reordering of the global trade”, Howard Lutnick hinted that the countries need to ease trade barriers for the US in order to consider negotiations.

“I don’t think there is any chance that President Trump is gonna back off of his tariffs. This is the reordering of global trade, right? … But the world should stop exploiting the United States of America. Let our farmers sell their products, let our ranchers sell their products,” he told CNN.

Any room for negotiation?

When asked if there was any room for negotiation at all, he said, “He (Trump) is not backing off. But countries can fix their tariffs, their non-tariff trade barriers which are much much rougher.”

Sharing an example of the kind of non-tariff barriers faced by the US companies while taking their business in foreign countries, Lutnick said, “McDonald’s tried to bring in French fries and they wouldn’t let them take the French fries because they couldn’t prove the origin, now that is called non-tariff trade barrier.”

Lutnick echoed Trump’s rhetoric that the US has been exploited by many nations and said the President would make a deal with every country if they “change their ways”. When argued if that is backing off, he retaliated that it was the “dealmaker making his deals win”.

Lutnick’s statements came a day after President Trump delivered on his long standing promise of reciprocal tariffs on countries that charge high duties from the US. Trump announced a baseline tariff of 10 per cent on almost all imports coming into the US, along with punishing reciprocal tariffs on as many as 60 countries, including important trade partners such as China, India, Vietnam and more.