Trump turns screws on China, leaves door open to deals with other countries

“They can both be true," Trump said Monday when asked whether the tariffs are permanent or up for negotiation.

Trump’s comments leave countries and industries to fend for themselves ahead of his self-imposed deadline Wednesday for imposing steep duties on nations such as China, Japan and Vietnam. More than 50 countries have reached out to the White House in recent days to try to cut a deal with Trump, officials said, putting the president in the middle of a global rush to placate him.

The U.S. on Saturday imposed a baseline 10% tariff on imported goods from virtually every country, and the additional duties expected this week were meant to target nations the administration views as bad actors on trade. Aides close to Trump offered conflicting messages on whether the tariffs could be negotiated down.

White House trade and manufacturing adviser Peter Navarro penned an op-ed in the Financial Times on Monday declaring “this is not a negotiation" with respect to tariffs. Earlier, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tweeted that the administration would “open negotiations" with Japan.

“There are conflicting narratives because everyone’s got an opinion," said Stephen Miran, the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. “That’s fine. Disagreement is how you can avoid group think." Miran didn’t give any clarity on whether any deals to reduce tariffs are forthcoming.

One official from a large technology firm said they weren’t seeing any credible indications of deals to spare companies or specific products from tariffs, saying that any relief would probably come through bilateral negotiations with other nations. But the prognosis there is murky as well: Foreign governments seeking to negotiate with the U.S. are unsure about the content or structure of any potential talks, said a person familiar with the situation.

“There will be fair deals," Trump said, noting that a number of foreign leaders have contacted the White House since he announced the tariffs last week. However, he ruled out a broad reprieve to the levies after erroneous reports earlier in the day that he was considering a 90 day pause.

“They’re offering things to us that we would have never even thought of asking them for," he said of foreign countries, adding: “Nobody but me would do this."

China was set to face 34% tariffs Wednesday, which Trump said he would increase by an additional 50% if Beijing didn’t drop a set of retaliatory levies it imposed on the U.S. Trump also threatened to terminate “all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us."

Trump’s threat to escalate his tariff assault on China by a big margin all but rules out any near-term negotiations with Beijing. Senior Chinese officials have for months tried to engage the administration in meetings with little luck, the Journal has reported. China, whose hopes for engagement have increasingly turned toward defiance, is unlikely to back down, said people who consult with Chinese officials.

“We have stressed more than once that pressuring or threatening China is not a right way to engage with us," a spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington said.

Meanwhile, Trump left the door open to talks with Japan, Israel and others willing to reduce their trade surplus with America.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sitting next to Trump in the Oval Office, said he wants to completely erase the trade deficit between the U.S. and Israel. Trump has railed against the trade deficit and calculated reciprocal tariff rates based on nations’ trade imbalances with the U.S.

“We intend to do it very quickly. We think it’s the right thing to do. And we’re also going to eliminate trade barriers," Netanyahu said. He added, “I think Israel can serve as a model for other countries who ought to do the same."

The European Union appears to have chosen a middle road: Stand up to Trump but not overly antagonize him. The EU has twice delayed the pace of its retaliatory tariffs, in part to allow more time for negotiations with the Trump administration. On Monday, a top European Union official said the bloc had offered “zero-for-zero" tariffs for industrial goods during trade discussions with U.S. officials.

The EU is moving forward with plans to place tariffs on hundreds of American products, but removed Kentucky bourbon from the hit list and said it won’t respond to Trump dollar for dollar. The levies are part of the EU’s first round of retaliation, and are in response to tariffs the U.S. applied on steel and aluminum in March.

The bloc has separately said it is considering retaliating against Trump’s reciprocal and auto tariffs, though deciding on those measures may take several weeks or longer.

Protectionist advisers close to the administration are already piling on pressure for Trump not to back down. They include the influential protectionist advocacy group the Coalition for a Prosperous America, which advised Trump on his reciprocal tariff plan and whose former CEO Michael Stumo is now the trade economist at the Office of Management and Budget.

“Doing ‘zero-for-zero’ tariff deals w/ countries like Vietnam—a transshipment hub for China—is free trade by another name," CPA executive vice president Nick Iacovella posted on X. “This misguided approach won’t rebuild U.S. industry—it perpetuates the same failed globalist policies that decimated American [manufacturing] & workers for decades."

Write to Gavin Bade at gavin.bade@wsj.com, Annie Linskey at annie.linskey@wsj.com and Kim Mackrael at kim.mackrael@wsj.com