President Donald Trump revealed for the first time on Thursday that the United States is in talks with China on a tariff deal. Trump said a deal could be reached in the next three to four weeks.
Earlier Thursday, Trump met with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni at the White House amid a tariff standoff with the European Union. The talks came a day after Trump met with Japanese officials and spoke with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Meanwhile, Trump is criticizing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, saying his "termination cannot come fast enough" after Powell said he expects Trump's tariff policy to cause higher inflation and slower economic growth.
Trump says tariffs on pharmaceuticals are coming, but not when
President Donald Trump said he’ll impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals, but he wouldn’t say at what rate or when those would be implemented.
The president compared potential tariffs on pharmaceuticals to those he had imposed on other products.
“That's going to be like we have on cars. We have us, you know, a 25% tariff on cars, we have a 25% tariff on steel. And aluminum,” he said on Monday while meeting with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
President Donald Trump meets with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, April 14, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Asked for a percentage or a timeline, Trump responded, “I have a timeline, yeah -- not too distant future.”
Apr 14, 2025, 10:53 AM EDT
WH adviser says there will be no exemptions, claims trade deal close with 10 countries
As President Donald Trump said exemptions placed on smartphones, computers and other electronics will be temporary, his top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, doubled down to ABC News' Rachel Scott that everything will be covered.
When asked if there will be any exemptions on any electronics, Hassett said "what we're talking about is coverage. And so what's going to be covered? And pretty much everything's going to be covered. The question is, which law applies."
Hassett also claimed the Trump admin is close to finalizing a trade deal with more than 10 countries.
Director of the National Economic Council of the United States Kevin Hassett responds to a question from the news media during a briefing outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, April 14, 2025.
Shawn Thew/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
“I think that we've got more than 10 deals where there's very, very good, amazing offers made to the US that USTR Trade Representative Jameson Greer and Howard Lutnick and the rest of our trade team and the President are stewing over whether those deals are good enough," Hassett said Monday.
As the Trump administration is set to make an announcement soon, it is now weighing if it will announce the deals in a bundle or individually by country.
“The President will decide when he's satisfied with the deal and when he wants to announce it, and how many all at once. But I can tell you, the progress has been astonishing," Hassett said.
--ABC News' Kelsey Walsh
Apr 13, 2025, 11:43 PM EDT
Trump says semiconductor tariffs coming 'in the not-distant future'
President Donald Trump, aboard Air Force One on Sunday night en route back to Washington, D.C., after a weekend in Florida, said there "shouldn't be ambiguity" amid his administration's repeated about-faces on tariffs.
He said semiconductor tariffs “will be in place in the not distant future” and that he would announce at what rate “over the next week.”
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during the flight from Palm Beach to Miami aboard Air Force One, April 12, 2025.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
The president said on Saturday he would announce specifics on Monday.
Trump, when asked if he would declare tariffs on iPhones and tablets, said, "That’s going to be announced very soon" but that the administration is going to with companies about it because “you have to show a certain flexibility.”
-ABC News' Fritz Farrow
Apr 13, 2025, 5:27 PM EDT
China says electronics exemption is a ‘small step’
China says the Trump administration’s exemptions for smartphones, laptops and other electronics is a “small step” in correcting a “wrong practice,” urging the U.S. to completely cancel Trump’s reciprocal tariffs.
"We urge the US … to take a big step to correct its mistakes, completely cancel the wrong practice of 'reciprocal tariffs' and return to the right path of mutual respect," China's Commerce Ministry said in a statement.
Beijing is now “evaluating the impact” of the exemption, the statement said.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during the flight from Palm Beach to Miami aboard Air Force One, April 12, 2025.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Hedge fund billionaire and vocal Trump supporter Bill Ackman posted on X today: “The rift is healing. China ‘asks’ for relief from the tariffs creating an opening for a 90-day China tariff pause and negotiations.” Ackman had earlier in the week urged Trump to pause those reciprocal tariffs shortly before the president announced the pause, warning that businesses would go bankrupt.
But on Sunday afternoon, Trump posted on Truth Social that tariffs on these products are “just moving to a different Tariff ‘bucket.’”
“NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook’ for the unfair Trade Balances,” the president added. “Especially not China, which, by far, treats us the worst!”
