White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called out the press for its over-the-top negative coverage of President Donald Trump’s tariff policy.
“Many of you in the media clearly missed the ‘The Art of the Deal.’ You clearly failed to see what President Trump is doing here,” she said after announcing Trump has placed a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs on those countries that reached out to the U.S.
This will allow time for the Trump administration to negotiate trade deals with them.
Meanwhile, Trump will be keeping in place a 10 percent baseline tariff on goods coming into the U.S., but for China, he has increased the rate to 125 percent after Beijing said it would be imposing an 84 percent retaliatory tariff on U.S. imports.
“You tried to say the rest of the world would be moved closer to China, when in fact, we’ve seen the opposite effect,” Leavitt told reporters.
These countries are reaching out to America to negotiate because they want to sell their goods to the world’s largest economy, she contended.
“That’s exactly why more than 75 countries have called — because the United States of America is the best place in the world to do business,” Leavitt said. “And as the president has shown great courage, as the [Treasury] secretary has said, in choosing to retaliate against China even higher.”
.@PressSec: “Many of you in the media clearly missed The Art of the Deal” 🔥 pic.twitter.com/WfnKghNVOb
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 9, 2025
Did you remain confident in Trump throughout the last week?
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters at the White House, “We saw the successful negotiating strategy that President Trump implemented a week ago today. It has brought more than 75 countries forward to negotiate.
“It took great courage — great courage– for him to stay the course until this moment,” the secretary added. “As I told everyone a week ago in this very spot, ‘Do not retaliate, and you will be rewarded.’”
Scott Bessent is SHINING right now.
This is his territory and he OWNS it!
LFG!!! pic.twitter.com/TEtfOwkBMG
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) April 9, 2025
Bessent reiterated an announcement Trump made on Truth Social earlier on Wednesday, saying that a baseline 10 percent tariff will be in place for those countries that want to negotiate. Meanwhile, a 125 percent tariff will be placed on Chinese goods.
It was already evident last week, after the president announced his reciprocal tariff policy, that the “Art of the Deal” was already beginning to work.
Multiple countries reached out within a day, indicating they would be willing to lower their tariffs on U.S. imports to zero if Trump would do the same.
Among them were Vietnam, Israel, and Argentina.
Former George W. Bush Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez told CNBC on the day Trump made his tariff announcement last week that he saw it as “the beginning of a big negotiation.”
“It’s the opening step. I would expect, and I would assume that this will not be in place in a month, two months. Definitely not in the back half of the year. So I’m in the camp that this is … the beginning of a big negotiation.”
JUST IN: Former Commerce Secretary predicts Trump’s tariffs won’t be in place by the back half of 2025 because other countries will rush to the negotiating table.
Former George W. Bush Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez just made the prediction on CNBC.
Gutierrez went as far… pic.twitter.com/8yyGiuwx0j
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 2, 2025
Gutierrez rightly predicted that Trump would keep in place the 10 percent across-the-board tariff as a revenue generator, while the higher reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries will go away as they lower their import duties on U.S. goods.
Trump was, in fact, touting the benefits of tariffs to the U.S. Treasury on Tuesday, saying they were generating about $2 billion in revenue a day.
President Donald Trump has claimed that his administration’s tariffs are generating substantial revenue for the U.S. economy, estimating that they bring in approximately $2 billion a day.
MORE: https://t.co/Eo1dYgjD6V pic.twitter.com/1DAQ5yrWbj
— KSNV News 3 Las Vegas (@News3LV) April 9, 2025
Leavitt concluded on Wednesday, “We finally have a president here at the White House who is playing the long game, who is doing what is right for the American worker and our industries here at home.”
.@PressSec Karoline Leavitt ends questions with reporters with a major mic drop ⬇️
“We finally have a president here at the White House who is playing the long game, who is doing what is right for the American worker.” pic.twitter.com/WdVBFcNCj9
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) April 9, 2025
So to summarize, lower tariffs for U.S. exports abroad, protection from unfair trade practices for U.S. manufacturers, and some revenue to lower the federal deficit.
And that, my friends, is “The Art of the Deal” in action.
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