Trump signals tit-for-tat China tariffs may be near end

President Donald Trump has signalled a potential end to the tit-for-tat tariff hikes between the United States and China that shocked markets.

“I don’t want them to go higher because at a certain point you make it where people don’t buy,” Trump told reporters on Thursday at the White House.

“So, I may not want to go higher or I may not want to even go up to that level. I may want to go to less because you know you want people to buy and, at a certain point, people aren’t gonna buy.”

Trump’s comments further pointed to a diminished appetite for sharply higher across-the-board tariffs on dozens of countries after markets reacted violently to their introduction on April 2.

The Republican president slapped 10 per cent tariffs on most goods entering the country but delayed the implementation of higher levies, pending negotiations.

Still, he hiked rates on Chinese imports, now totalling 145 per cent, after Beijing retaliated with its own counter-measures. Last week, China said “will not respond” to a “numbers game with tariffs,” its own signal that across-the-board rates would not rise further.

Trump said China had been in touch since the imposition of tariffs and expressed optimism that they could reach a deal.

While the two sides are in touch, sources told Reuters that free-flowing, high-level exchanges of the sorts that would lead to a deal have largely been absent.

Trump on Thursday repeatedly declined to specify the nature of talks between the countries or whether they directly included Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Meanwhile, Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni each expressed confidence on Thursday that the US and Europe would be able to negotiate a trade deal before his 90-day pause on some tariffs ends.

The 27-nation European Union faces 25 per cent import tariffs on steel, aluminium and cars, and broader tariffs on almost all other goods under Trump’s policy to hit countries he says impose high barriers to US imports.

Trump said he was 100 per cent certain of an eventual trade deal with Europe, the most confidence he has expressed on those negotiations since rattling world markets with his tariff announcements.

“Of course there will be a trade deal, very much. They want to make one very much. And we are going to make a trade deal. I fully expect it. And it will be a fair deal,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office after talks with Meloni, a close ally.

Meloni, positioning herself as an intermediary between the US and Europe, was equally confident.

She noted, however, that she could not lock in a deal for the full European Union but said frank discussions could help resolve trade disputes that have strained US-European ties.

“I am sure we can make a deal, and I am here to help with that,” she said.

Trump has offered to make trade deals with as many nations as possible to limit the impact of the tariffs. Asked about what countries were on his priority list, he said, “Everybody is on my priority list.”