President Donald Trump indicated on Sunday night that the sweeping reciprocal tariffs he levied just last week are staying in effect, as the markets continue to plunge.
In comments to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump pointed to U.S. trade deficits with other countries in his defense of the tariffs, singling out China, which was hit with a 34% tariff by the United States last week.
“When you look at the trade deficit we have with certain countries, with China it’s $1 trillion,” the president said. “And we have to solve our trade deficit with China. … Hundreds of billions of dollars a year we lose with China. And unless we solve that problem, I’m not going to make a deal.”
“This is not sustainable,” Trump added.
He also spoke briefly about the markets’ reaction to the tariffs, which as recently as Sunday night included Dow futures being down more than 1,500 points, or 4%, as well as Japan’s Nikkei declining by more than 8% in morning trading.
Trump said while he doesn’t want to see sharp declines, “sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”
“What’s going to happen to the markets I can’t tell you. But our country is much stronger,” he added.
While no trade deal is in sight with China after it responded to Trump’s tariff with a 34% reciprocal tariff of its own, the president did indicate some European leaders are coming to the negotiating table.
Asked about Elon Musk’s recent comments that he would like to see a “zero tariff situation” between the U.S. and Europe, Trump said “they want to talk” about a potential trade deal.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“They are coming to the table. They want to talk but there’s no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis,” Trump said.
“Europe has made a fortune off us. … Europe has treated us very, very badly,” he added.
