For a president who promotes himself as the top contract maker, the next 11 weeks will be a pivotal test. His advisors are to compete with other governments to achieve what other governments have done so far, and to reach dozens of separate trade deals.
President Trump has pledged great benefits to American trade, and officials in Japan, South Korea, India and other countries are calling for an agreement aimed at preventing penalty tariffs before they occur. But trade experts say the administration has set up a seemingly impossible task, given that traditional trade transactions usually take months or years to negotiate.
Trump attempted to leverage tariffs to sign a quick contract, and his trade adviser Peter Navarro has pledged “90 deals in 90 days.” However, collections have created chaos and economic distress for many businesses, and have not brought some of America's biggest trading partners to the table, including China.
Some US trade is based on a halt after the countries impose triple-digit tariffs on each other's products, and then imposing a wave of bankruptcy, especially among small US companies that rely on Chinese imports.
Some Trump officials recognize that the situation with China is not sustainable and is strategizing ways to reduce tariffs between the nation, said the two, who are familiar with the discussion. Another well-versed in the discussion said the executives were concerned about the blow to the stock market. The S&P 500 has fallen 10% since Trump took office on January 20th.
On Tuesday, Trump indicated that the 145% tariffs spent on Chinese imports could fall. “It's not that high,” he said. “It's going to drop significantly, but it won't be zero.”
So far, US and Chinese officials appear to have not engaged in substantial consultations regarding trade spats. Trump officials believe that China's economy is vulnerable given its dependence on exports to the US.
“President Trump was clear. China needs to do business with the United States,” said White House spokesman Kush Desai.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent on Wednesday dismissed speculation that the president is considering unilaterally lowering tariffs he imposed on China prior to negotiations with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. He emphasized that the moves to eliminate trade tensions need to be mutual.
“I don't think either side believes the current tariff levels are sustainable,” Becent told reporters. “This amounts to an embargo, and the two countries' breaks on trade are not suitable for anyone's interest.”
On Wednesday, Guo Zi-Kung, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reiterated that China would not be bullied by the threat of US tariffs.
“If the US really wants to resolve issues through dialogue and negotiation, it needs to stop threats and coercion and have a dialogue with China on the basis of equality, respect and mutual interest,” he said. “To talk about reaching an agreement with China while constantly putting maximum pressure on its entirety is not the right way to deal with China and it's not going to work.”
Trump's tariff threat has created urgency for other governments and is motivated to begin consultations with the US on the removal of tariffs and other trade barriers. On April 9, just hours after the president imposed strict tariffs on nearly 60 countries, he said he would suspend them for 90 days and instead give the government an opportunity to negotiate trade deals.
This week, White House spokesman Karoline Leavitt said the Trump administration received 18 proposals on paper and the trade team “meeted 34 countries this week alone.”
“There's a lot of progress,” she said. “We are moving at Trump speed to ensure these transactions are made on behalf of American workers and Americans.”
Asked if the tariffs were actually working, she replied, “Have patience and you will see.”
But negotiating so many transactions at the same time poses a huge challenge. Much of Trump's division is still understaffed, and mid-level officials have not yet been identified. Torsten Slok, chief economist at investment firm Apollo Global Management, wrote online that on average, US-signed trade deals took 18 months to negotiate and 45 months to implement.
“While the market awaits trade negotiations with 90 countries at the same time,” he wrote.
Another hurdle is that people familiar with negotiations say foreign governments don't know exactly what the Trump administration wants. And given Trump's unpredictable demands, they don't know if his agent is authorized to close deals with them.
Greta Peish, a former trade officer who is now a partner at the law firm Wiley Lane, said a tough timeline raised questions about whether there will be any deals that will close in the coming months. “More tentative or ambitious” Not an actual trade agreement. She also said that economic benefits could be limited.
“Looking at some of these trade relations, merely removing the trade barriers would not move the needle much when it comes to changing trade flows in the near future,” she said.
South Korea's finance and trade ministers were scheduled to meet with US trade representatives Bescent and Jamieson Greer on Thursday. Officials from Thailand, Japan, India and other countries were also scheduled to hold talks in Washington this week.
On his visit to New Delhi on Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance released an outline of a potential trade deal with India. It increased trade with India, reduced India's barriers to US exports, folded in debate, energy and strategic technology discussions.
The Trump administration has said some transactions could close quickly, but the first meeting suggests that meetings with major trading partners, particularly Japan, could become more complicated.
The two countries have trade disputes that date decades back to industries such as steel and automotive parts. And some contracts under discussion — for example, projects that allow Japan, South Korea and Taiwan to invest in pipelines to export liquefied natural gas from Alaska — could take at least five years.
“Tokyo wants to maintain its alliance and maintain peace with Trump, but without giving up Japan's interests,” wrote Daniel Russell, vice-president of the Asian Association's Institute of Policy Studies, in a recent analysis. “The Japanese government is willing to increase its investment in the US and buy more American products, but will resist the rushed and biased pressure on trading.”
South Korean officials are also happy to discuss trade imbalances, buying more natural gas and making investments to stimulate the US shipbuilding industry. However, given that the country's president will be fired up and elections will not take place until June 3, it is not clear that it is in a position to actively negotiate the deal.
Speaking from Washington on Wednesday, Prime Minister Rachel Reeves, the UK's Secretary of State, also said there are no plans to rush to a trade deal with the US.
Reeves, who is scheduled to meet with Bescent, said she wanted to reduce trade barriers between the UK and other countries, but she said there was a solid line that her government did not cross, including changes in food and automobile safety standards.
With large trading partners like the European Union, discussions seem more difficult. European officials have expressed their dissatisfaction with the lack of a clear goal from the Trump administration.
“We hope to make our forecasts clearer,” Bardis Dombrovskis, the European Commissioner in charge of the economy, said at the Semaphore World Economy Summit on Wednesday. He said European officials have submitted “specific proposals.” This said it needs to be more clear about what the US wanted, such as buying more liquefied natural gas and zero tariffs on industrial products.
“We're trying to find solutions and paths to come,” he said. “But we also show that without a solution, we are ready to protect our company.”
EU officials are working to diversify business relationships by creating a list of American products that can place their own tariffs on retaliation.
“We would like to work with Iceland, New Zealand, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mexico and more,” Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, in countless consultations with heads of states and governments around the world, saying that they would like to work with Iceland, New Zealand, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mexico and more.”
“The West we knew no longer existed,” she said.
Cho San-han, Eshe Nelson and Alan Rappyport Reports of contributions. siyi Zhao Contributed research.
