‘We’re not looking at that’: US President Trump rules out ‘pause’ on tariffs during negotiations

WASHINGTON: Amid the turmoil in the global markets following the tariff announcements made by the US, President Donald Trump has ruled out the possibility of a “pause” on the tariffs on countries during negotiations.

During a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House on Monday (local time), Trump stated, “We’re not looking at that,” emphasising that the US would continue to pursue fair deals with other countries. “We have many countries that are to negotiate deals with us, and they’re going to be fair deals, and in certain cases, they’re going to be paying substantial tariffs. They’ll be fair deals,” Trump said.

Q: Do you plan to reduce the tariffs your government put on Israeli goods?

Trump: Maybe not. Don’t forget, we help Israel a lot. We give Israel 4 billion dollars a year, that’s lot. [Looks at Netanyahu] Congratulations by the way, that’s pretty good… pic.twitter.com/ODrv25eVFU

— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) April 7, 2025

He also highlighted the current tariff situation with China, criticising them for going against his statement and increasing tariffs and stated, “If that tariff isn’t removed by tomorrow at 12 o’clock, we’re putting a 50 per cent on above the tariffs that we put on. They’ve become a rich country because of people who were in the White House.” Earlier, Beijing had put a 34 per cent retaliatory tariff hike on US.

Trump reiterated that his approach was aimed at rectifying trade imbalances, pointing to the substantial debt the US faces. “I have a great relationship with President Xi. I hope it’s going to stay that way. I have great respect for China, but they can’t do this. We’re just going to have one shot at this, and no other president is going to do this. and I’ll tell you what: it’s an honour to do it because we have been just destroyed. What they’ve done to our system, you know, we have 36 trillion dollars of debt for a reason. So we’ll be talking to China. We’ll be talking to a lot of different countries,” the US President added.

On the matter of some tariffs being permanent and others that can be negotiated, Trump said, “They can both be true. There could be permanent tariffs, and there could also be negotiations.” He further stated that the US would secure fair deals with all countries, and if negotiations did not result in satisfactory terms, the US would distance itself from those nations. “We’re going to get fair deals and good deals with every country — and if we don’t, we’re going to have nothing to do with them,” he added.

The President also took aim at the European Union, criticising its trade practices and describing the EU as a unified group formed to create a competitive edge against the US. He pointed out the imbalance in trade, highlighting the US automotive industry’s limited access to European markets.

“The EU has been very tough over the years. It was formed to do damage to the United States in trade. It was formed with all of the countries from Europe. I guess most of them, not all of them, but most of them formed together to create a little bit of a monopoly situation to create a unified force against the United States trade…the European Union has been very bad to us. They don’t take our cars like Japan. They don’t take our agricultural product; they do anything practically. They’re sending millions and millions of cars into the US, but we don’t have a car that’s been sold to the European Union or other places,” Trump stated.

Meanwhile, European Union President Ursula von der Leyen stated that the EU had offered the US “zero-for-zero” tariffs for industrial goods.

In a post on X, she said, “Europe is ready to negotiate with the US. We have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods. Because we’re always ready for a good deal. But we’re also prepared to respond with countermeasures. And protect ourselves against indirect effects through trade diversion.” (ANI)