President Trump: U.S. Will Have A Baseline 10% Tariff On All Countries, And Some Much Higher
RCP’s Phil Wegmann asked President Trump on Friday to confirm the press secretary’s comment that the U.S. will maintain a “baseline” 10% on all trading partners. “The president is committed to the 10% baseline tariff, not just for the United Kingdom, but for his trade negotiations with all other countries as well,” Leavitt said during Friday’s press briefing. “You are going to always have a baseline,” the president said. “There could be an exception at some point, we’ll see, if somebody does something exceptional for us.” “But basically, you have a baseline of a minimum of 10%, and some of them will be much higher. 40%, 50%, 60% — as they’ve been doing to us over the years.”
PHIL WEGMANN: Karoline said today that a 10% baseline tariff on all countries is here to stay even after the deals are done. Does that mean that countries offering zero tariffs won’t get reciprocity? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You are going to always have a baseline. I mean, there could be an exception at some point, we’ll see, if somebody does something exceptional for us, that’s always possible. But basically, you have a baseline of a minimum of 10%, and some of them will be much higher. 40%, 50%, 60% as they’ve been doing to us over the years. We had a wonderful deal yesterday. We have four or five other deals coming immediately. We have many deals coming down the line, and ultimately, we’re just signing the rest of them in, but we always have a baseline of 10%.
