(March 29): US President Donald Trump said he is open to negotiations that would reduce the tariffs he’s planning to implement on countries next week, but that he does not expect deals ahead of his April 2 announcement.

“I am certainly open to that, if we can do something, we can get something for it,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

But Trump cautioned that any deal would happen “probably after” he imposes the tariffs, and said that although he is receptive to dealmaking, he believes the US has “been taken advantage of for 40 years, maybe more”.

The president is expected to unveil his reciprocal tariff programme, which he said will include aggressive levies intended to equalise trade barriers and push manufacturing back to the US, next Wednesday. But significant mystery surrounds how the government will determine the tariff rates, with the president offering changing guidance for how severe the levies will be. 

Officials have also given conflicting information about whether they will incorporate or be in addition to taxes on specific priorities, though Trump this week announced 25% tariffs just on automobiles that he said would be added on top of country-specific levies.

Trump said on Friday he would be announcing pharmaceutical tariffs “soon”, but sidestepped a question on whether life-saving medications would be exempted, and what the rate of those taxes would be.

“It will be a certain number that will be enough to get the drugs and the pharmaceutical companies to bring in their products into our country. We never want to have to rely on other countries for that, like we did in Covid,” Trump said.

Read also:
Trump pressing advisers for tariff escalation ahead of April 2, Washington Post reports
Trump, Carney talk about new deal, plan meeting after Canada’s election

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