President Trump said on Monday that he does not plan to pause a slate of expansive tariffs set to take effect later this week, as he threatened to subject Chinese imports to a staggering 104 percent tax in a bid to ward off retaliation by Beijing and other powers.
Mr. Trump issued his warning on a day when the White House once again found itself on the defensive for its spiraling global trade war. But the president insisted he remained unbowed by the widening range of governments pleading for relief and the markets convulsing anew over the chaos and confusion.
“We’re not looking at that,” Mr. Trump said, when asked about a possible pause on his tariffs. “We’re going to have one shot at this and no other president is going to do what I’m doing.”
Mr. Trump began the day by drawing new battle lines over his so-called reciprocal tariffs, which he plans to impose on certain countries after midnight on Wednesday. The taxes, which can reach as high as 46 percent for some nations, will snap into effect just days after the president imposed a minimum 10 percent levy on nearly every U.S. trading partner.
Mr. Trump specifically targeted China, which announced last week it would match the United States by imposing a retaliatory 34 percent tax on imports from America. In a post on Truth Social, the president demanded that Beijing rescind its retribution or face an additional 50 percent U.S. tariff beginning April 9. He also threatened to halt any further negotiations.
The escalation could bring the U.S. tariff on Chinese goods to 104 percent, though for some products, the rate is likely to be much higher because of levies that date back to Mr. Trump’s first term. Taken together, it could prove costly for importers bringing in clothing, cellphones, chemicals and machinery from China. American consumers last year bought $440 billion of goods from China, making it the second-largest source of U.S. imports after Mexico.
Mr. Trump coupled his ultimatum to China with a pledge to issue punishing, additional tariffs on other U.S. trading partners if they similarly try to rebuff his policies. But his attacks did not appear to dissuade some opponents, including the European Union, where officials prepared to circulate a list of U.S. products that they could soon subject to retaliation.
With global tensions rising, Mr. Trump’s strategy triggered another day of unease on Wall Street. The S&P 500 fell 0.2 percent, now almost 18 percent below its mid-February peak. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index, which also saw dramatic swings throughout the day, ended slightly higher.
In a sign of investor frustration over the tariffs, an erroneous news report earlier in the day, suggesting that the president might pause his trade war, sparked an immediate rally — only to see stocks just as quickly plummet again, after the White House made clear no such pause was in the offing.
Still, administration officials appeared to leave open the door for negotiations that could ultimately defuse the trade war, citing the fact that more than 50 countries — including, most recently, Israel, Japan and Vietnam — had approached the U.S. government in recent days to strike deals. After visiting with the president at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Monday that his country would “eliminate the trade deficit with the United States,” while reducing other trade barriers “fairly quickly.”
But White House officials have sought to set a high bar for what the president is willing to accept, marking a shift in tone after Mr. Trump and his aides initially signaled they would not haggle over tariffs at all.
“If they come to us with really great deals that advantage American manufacturing and American farmers, I’m sure he’ll listen,” Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council, said in an interview on Fox News.
Mr. Hassett said some nations had proposed “some deals that are great,” but added of the president: “After decades and decades of mistreating American workers, it’s going to be tough to get him to decide to really come to the table and sign on the dotted line.”
Peter Navarro, a senior White House trade adviser, specifically said that other nations needed to do more than lower their own tariffs to secure relief from the United States. Appearing on CNBC, he cited a need to reduce “cheating” and other barriers that restrict American goods in foreign markets.
And Stephen Miran, the head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said offers by foreign countries “would be welcomed by the United States.” He added at an event in Washington that the president had been “very clear that we want increased access to foreign markets that would boost our exports.”
With seemingly no end to the trade war in sight, economists once again were left to grapple with the prospect that high tariffs could raise prices on consumers, slow U.S. growth and tip the country into a recession. Tariffs are taxes on imports, which businesses may struggle to afford, potentially resulting in those firms passing on the new costs to customers.
Jay Foreman, the chief executive of toy company Basic Fun, called the president’s new threat against China “unhinged.”
Mr. Foreman said he had just initiated a complete hold on all shipments of his products from Asia. “I cannot risk putting any product on the water that might incur, at this point, a 54 percent to 104 percent tariff,” he said. “It’s one thing to try to absorb or pass along 10 percent to 20 percent, but 54 percent to 104 percent, it’s impossible. The consumer will just shut down.”
Jeanna Smialek and Danielle Kaye contributed reporting.