(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump plans to oversee every trade deal his team makes, setting up challenges as the White House looks to make deals with scores of countries before Trump’s 90-day pause on higher tariffs expires.
“He has made it clear to his trade team he wants to personally sign off on all of these deals,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.
The White House has reported that more than 75 nations reached out to Trump and his trade team after Trump implemented a wave of what he called reciprocal tariffs on April 2. Seven days later, Trump announced a 90-day pause on those higher tariffs while keeping in place a baseline 10% tariff and a 145% tariff on imports from China. Trump has made some exemptions to that tariff on imports from China by excluding smartphones, computers and other electronics.
Leavitt reported the president’s team is reviewing 15 trade proposals, but didn’t identify which nations were involved in those deals.
“There’s a lot of work to do. We very much understand that,” she said. “But we do believe that we can announce some deals very soon.”
Trump has singled out China for higher rates after Beijing retaliated it own tariffs, which eventually reached 125% on U.S. imports. China has said at that tariff rate, “there is no market acceptance for U.S. goods exported to China.” Trump has also blamed China for allowing fentanyl precursors to be sold to Mexican drug cartels. China denies that it’s the cause of America’s overdose problem.
Trump said Tuesday that farmers are on the front lines of the trade war with China.
“Our farmers are GREAT, but because of their GREATNESS, they are always put on the Front Line with our adversaries, such as China, whenever there is a Trade negotiation or, in this case, a Trade War,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Trump said he would help farmers as he did in his first term.
American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said farmers are grateful for the 90-day pause but want the tariffs issues resolved quickly.
“We have been engaging directly with the White House, U.S. Trade Representative and U.S. Department of Agriculture to emphasize the toll tariffs will take on America’s farmers and ranchers, who are already strapped because of high supply costs and shrinking paychecks. Creating more market challenges puts at risk more than 20% of U.S. farm income. We’re encouraged that those concerns are being heard,” Duvall said. “We encourage the administration to swiftly resolve trade disputes and to pursue strategies that will ensure America’s farmers can continue to stock the pantries of families here at home, and abroad.”
A tariff is a tax on imported goods. The importer pays the tax and can either absorb the loss or pass the tax on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
In his “Liberation Day” speech, Trump said foreign nations for decades have stolen American jobs, factories and industries. He said the tariffs would bring in new jobs, factories and industries and return the U.S. to a manufacturing superpower.
“Our country and its taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years,” Trump said. “But it is not going to happen anymore.”
Trump has made big promises about his tariffs on the campaign trail and since inauguration. He has said tariffs will make the U.S. “rich as hell,” bring back manufacturing jobs lost to lower-wage countries in decades past and shift the tax burden away from U.S. families.
Some nations, including China, have responded with retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. Others have signaled they are eager to make a deal with the Trump administration. Trump has not yet announced any trade deals. Trump paused the higher tariffs for 90 days, giving his administration limited time to make deals with 75 nations the White House reported reached out seeking trade negotiations.
