Senior White House officials state that over 50 countries that were targets of reciprocal tariffs by the United States have since reached out to begin negotiations on the high import tariffs that have sent global markets spiraling over the past week.
What Happened: Director of the White House Economic Council, Kevin Hassett doubled down on the tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration last week.
During his appearance on ABC News’ “This Week” with host George Stephanopoulos, Hassett mentioned that over 50 countries have already reached out to the White House since the tariffs were announced, willing to negotiate new trade agreements with the U.S. Government.
This comes amid U.S. stock futures continuing to tumble over the weekend, with the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures down 2.7%, 6%, and 5.7%, respectively. Besides this, the US dollar witnessed its steepest decline since November 2022, dropping 1.7% on Thursday.
Hassett who has worked as an economic advisor for republicans John McCain, George W Bush, Mitt Romney, and now Donald Trump, mentioned that the tariffs will not have a big impact on consumers in the U.S.
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He further added that the ‘reason we have such a persistent, long-running trade deficit is because these people (other countries) have a very inelastic supply’ referring to the dumping of goods by countries like China across price ranges, which are making manufacturing untenable within the United States.
The conservative economist goes on to state that ‘cheap goods are not the answer’ and that ‘wages went down more than prices went on’ to make his case for the tariffs. However, this does not hold up, since real wages have increased over the past two decades, in part due to the deflationary effects of global supply chains.
Why It Matters: Two of America’s largest trading partners, China and the European Union, which make up 8% and 13% of total trade volumes, respectively, have given indications of retaliation. China recently imposed 34% reciprocal tariffs on all U.S. imports, and the European Union is planning retaliatory strikes this week.
Besides this, the tariffs have managed to unite regional rivals China, Japan, and South Korea, which are now planning a joint response.
Recently, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers also opposed Hasset’s views, going as far as to call tariffs ‘the biggest self-inflicted wound we’ve put on our economy in history.’ Summers adds that if you add in the loss to consumers, the total bill for this misadventure could get as high as ‘$30 trillion.’
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