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.
President Donald Trump said former President Joe Biden allowed China and other countries to "fleece us," but he doesn't blame China.
"I don't blame China. I don't blame Vietnam," he said, referring to meetings on trade between the two countries on Monday.
"I see the meeting today, is that wonderful? That's a lovely meeting. We're meeting, like trying to figure out how do we screw the United States of America?" he said. "Don't forget, the European Union was formed to do just that. The European Union was formed to hurt the United States and -- and on trade, and to get us on NATO because they don't pay their bills."
President Donald Trump meets with President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador in the Oval Office of the White House, April 14, 2025 in Washington.
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Apr 14, 2025, 12:52 PM EDT
Trump said he can be 'flexible' on tariffs
Asked about the exemptions from tariffs on some electronics that were announced over the weekend, President Donald Trump said he can be flexible but didn't offer any specifics.
"Look, I'm a very flexible person. I don't change my mind, but I'm flexible, and you have to be. You just can't have a wall, and you'll only go, you know, sometimes you have to go around it under it or above it," he said. "There'll be maybe things coming up. I speak to [Apple CEO] Tim Cook. I helped Tim Cook recently, and that whole business. I'm not --I don't want to hurt anybody."
President Donald Trump speaks as he meets with President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador in the Oval Office of the White House, April 14, 2025 in Washington.
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The U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced late Friday night that smartphones, computers, chips and other electronics would be exempted from Trump's reciprocal tariffs. But Trump and his economic advisers stressed over the weekend that any reprieve would be temporary, with specific tariffs to be imposed on goods put under a new national security classification.
Apr 14, 2025, 12:36 PM EDT
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.
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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.
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“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.
