Markets whipsawed further Friday in response to President Donald Trump’s latest comments on tariffs, with stocks briefly turning higher after he hinted that there may be “flexibility” in his plan to impose blanket tariffs on most U.S. trading partners next month before retreating back into the red.
In remarks in the Oval Office, Trump said he was not interested in making exceptions to the broad “fair and reciprocal” duties he’d foreshadowed in February that he now says will be imposed April 2.
But he nevertheless offered some daylight.
“I don’t change. But the word flexibility is an important word,” Trump said. “Sometimes it’s flexibility. So there’ll be flexibility, but basically it’s reciprocal.”
The president singled out China, saying there would be room for “talk” on trade issues with the country while adding he hoped to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the near term.
Despite that bit of give, it has become clear that the Trump administration is not backing down on its plan to establish sweeping trade levies, even as those efforts have sharply curbed near-term U.S. growth expectations while putting pressure on global GDP.
“Every member of the Trump administration is aligned on finally levelling the playing field for American industries and workers,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement to NBC News this week. “President Trump has assembled the best and brightest trade team in modern American history to reignite…
