(April 8): President Donald Trump threatened to slap China with an additional 50% import tax, while Washington and Wall Street remained engulfed in confusion about how to gain exceptions from his sweeping global tariffs.

Trump made a litany of comments Monday about his planned duties on worldwide trading partners. Yet the president offered little clarity about what he is seeking from trading partners in exchange for lowering duty rates — or whether he’s willing to offer relief at all.

The US president said he would not consider a blanket pause on higher tariffs expected to take effect Wednesday, nor did he answer when asked if he would consider reducing rates below the minimum 10%.

China would be hit with the higher charge if Beijing did not pull back from a plan to impose 34% retaliatory levies on American goods, the president vowed, a move that would add duties of 84% on many Chinese imports, on top of a 20% rate he already applied earlier this year — as well as existing measures.

A conciliatory approach also was not enough to secure a public commitment to consider tariff reductions, even from one of Trump’s closest allies. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sporting a Trump-style red tie, promised in an Oval Office meeting with the president to eliminate his nation’s trade surplus with the US and slash tariff and non-tariff barriers.

A reporter asked if that would be enough to reduce the tariffs. “Maybe not,” Trump replied. “Don’t forget, we help Israel a lot.”

Trump’s remarks Monday capped a dizzying trading day, in which investors tried to divine any sign — however small — that he is willing to back down from raising US tariffs to their highest level in a century.

Instead, slapdash and often conflicting remarks from the president and his advisers underscored the chaotic approach that has befuddled markets, and the difficulty facing even the US’s staunchest partners as they look to negotiate with Trump.

Stocks, bonds and commodities all swung wildly on Monday, as waves of volatility shook markets that struggled to digest a flood of headlines about Trump’s plans. In the most bizarre example, an erroneous report about the president’s willingness to consider a tariff pause boosted equities Monday morning before the White House dismissed it as “fake news”.

“Investors are navigating a challenging landscape in which they are left waiting for a reversal in policy,” José Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers, said in a note Monday. “Not only does the shifting trade policy threaten to spark a global recession, but it also materially changes the way many companies do business.”

White House spokesperson Kush Desai said administration officials have “regular contact” with businesses, industries and Americans about major decisions such as the tariff campaign.

“The only special interest guiding President Trump’s decision-making, however, is the best interest of the American people – such as addressing the national emergency posed by our country running chronic trade deficits,” Desai said.

Even as Trump and his team touted outreach from dozens of countries, there appeared to be no streamlined process to consider leaders’ offers. There are no established systems in place at the Commerce Department, Office of the US Trade Representative or the National Economic Council to formally register complaints, according to people familiar with the matter.

One company looking to re-shore a manufacturing plant from Southeast Asia — one of Trump’s stated goals for the tariffs — can’t find anyone within the administration to talk to them about it, one of the people said.

Trump’s economic teams are overwhelmed with the number of calls and requests coming from corporate America and foreign governments, making it nearly impossible to reach anyone, people familiar with the dynamics said. The president’s own remarks highlighted the murkiness of his negotiating criteria.

Trump praised Japan, which agreed to set up cabinet-level tariff talks, for having “a very good conversation” with him but complained about lack of market access for American automobiles and agricultural products. Europe is “screwing us” on trade and will have to “buy our energy from us” to make amends, he said.

“There can be permanent tariffs and there can also be negotiations, because there are things that we need beyond tariffs,” Trump said.

Trump said he has a great relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but stated he would be willing to follow through with a trade war.

“It’s the only chance our country will have to reset the table, because no other president would be willing to do what I’m doing or to even go through it,” Trump said. “Now I don’t mind going through it because I see a beautiful picture at the end, but we are making tremendous progress with a lot of countries. And the countries that really took advantage of us are now saying, ‘please negotiate’.”

Trump hasn’t ruled out extensions or deferrals before Wednesday, but it’s too soon to say if there’ll be any, a White House official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Trump is looking for more than just tariff reductions and wants other concessions, and he’s willing to listen, but negotiations depend on how substantive an offer is, the official said.

Some lobbyists are telling corporate clients to refrain from taking their complaints to the White House and Trump’s inner circle, seeing any attempt to sway them as counterproductive, the people said. Instead, they’re urging clients to try to remain outwardly calm rather than coming across as adversarial to the White House.

Fellow billionaires are likely the only group who can sway Trump to move off his tariff policies, though even a surge of calls from the upper echelon of American business elites may not persuade the president, one person said.

Still, there has been some tacit acknowledgment within Trump’s team about the economic pain that could be inflicted if the full scope of tariffs goes into place. The Trump administration is weighing the merits of a new exporter tax credit to soften the blow.

Trump’s trade team is stacked with tariff evangelists, a departure from his first term when the economic team included a wider range of views, and when the president’s levies were far more targeted. But the market carnage threatens to test the administration’s resolve to press ahead with the levies, and members of the president’s team continued to send mixed messages Monday about his intentions.

White House adviser Peter Navarro reiterated Monday the tariffs are “not a negotiation”, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated on Fox Business part of the tariffs’ purpose is gaining leverage on trading partners.

“It is my hope that through good negotiations all we will do is see levels come down,” he said. “But that’s going to depend on the other countries. And if President Trump is gonna be personally involved in these negotiations and he believes as many of us do that there’s been an unfair playing field. So the negotiations are gonna be tough.”

Bessent later told Bloomberg Television he does not expect any deals with countries before tariffs kick in Wednesday.

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