Are Trump’s prices negotiable or here to stay? In the midst of confusion, he says it can be both.
In the midst of mixed messages of the best officials of the White House, President Donald Trump was invited to say directly on Monday if his radical prices were negotiable or here to stay.
“They can both be real,” said Trump. “There may be permanent prices and there can also be negotiations because there are things we need beyond the prices.”
For days, from Trump on Down, administration officials have made contradictory statements on the question of whether countries can do anything to save prices, which include a universal price of 10% implemented during the weekend and what they claimed were “reciprocal” tariffs more targeted on Wednesday.
Only Monday, the secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent shared that he was responsible for negotiating with Japan while the Commerce of the Commerce of the White House Peter Navarro writes an editorial that new politicians are “not negotiation”.
Bessent posted on social networks that after a “very constructive telephone discussion” with Japanese officials, Trump asked him, as well as the US trade representative, Jamieson Greer to “open negotiations to implement the president’s vision for the new golden age of world trade”.
Navarro wrote in the Financial Times that Trump would not back up his “reciprocal” prices on the nations that the administration judged the worst offenders in commercial relations.
“This is equity, and no one can challenge this. It is not a negotiation,” wrote Navarro. “For the United States, it is a national emergency triggered by trade deficits caused by a rigged system. President Trump is still willing to listen. But world leaders who, after decades of cheating, suddenly offer to lower the prices – know this: this is only the beginning.”
When Trump announced the radical prices in the Garden Rose Garden of the White House, he justified them in response to a “national emergency” caused by commercial deficits and unfair practices with global partners.
President Donald Trump responds to a media member at a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House Oval Office on April 7, 2025 in Washington.
Images Kevin Dietsch / Getty
Since then, markets in the country and abroad have collapsed. Foreign leaders fell, some – like China – taking reprisal measures against the United States. Economists have increased their chances of recession this year.
Officials were in a hurry to justify the action of Sunday morning news emissions, where confused messaging was obvious. Trump spent the weekend in Golf when the benefits of his pricing policy continued.
Commerce secretary Howard Lungick, in the CBS news program “facing the nation”, said the prices would “stay in place for days and weeks” and that “it is politics”.
Meanwhile, the director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett, on this week “of ABC News, boasted that 50 countries had contacted the White House to negotiate prices.
Trump said on Monday that they are open to “fair agreements” with foreign leaders who put “America first” – but these prices would remain in place in the meantime.
“We are going to get fair offers and good deals with each country. And if we do not, we will have nothing to do with them. They will not be allowed to participate in the United States,” he said.
The chief correspondent of the ABC News, Mary Bruce, asked Trump on Monday if he would be open to a break in the prices to allow negotiations.
“Well, we don’t look at that,” said Trump. “We have a lot, a lot, countries that come to negotiate agreements with us, and they will be fair agreements. And in some cases, they will pay substantial prices.”
A rumor of a possible 90 -day price break that circulated Monday has briefly climbed the actions in green territory before returning to the red when the White House denied the report.
Trump said in the oval office that he did not care, “apparently a nod to the criticism and the volatility of the market because he thinks that it is worth it at the end of the day.
“So it must be very interesting,” he said. “This is the only chance that our country will have to reset the table because no other president would be willing to do what I do or even pass it. Now, I don’t mind doing it because I see a nice image at the end.”
ABC News Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
