Trade Turmoil Grows: 50 Nations Demand Trade Talks
More than 50 countries have reached out to the White House to begin trade negotiations following President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff implementation, according to U.S. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett. The flood of diplomatic outreach comes as nations worldwide grapple with the implications of America’s most aggressive trade action in decades, which has already triggered retaliatory measures from China.
“I got a report from the USTR last night that more than 50 countries have reached out to the president to begin a negotiation,” Hassett told ABC News’ This Week program, as reported by The Guardian. “They are doing that because they understand that they bear a lot of the tariff.”
The rush to negotiate comes after Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement implemented a baseline 10% tariff on all imports, with significantly higher rates—some reaching 50%—on goods from dozens of countries. The unprecedented move has sent global markets into turmoil, with the U.S. stock market losing nearly $10 trillion in value since Trump’s January inauguration, according to MarketWatch.
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China Leads Retaliatory Response
China has already countered with its own 34% tariff on American goods, a move that experts warn could trigger a cascade of similar responses from other nations. “What it signifies is that China is the first country to hit back. But it’s definitely not going to be the last country,” explained Barry Naughton, economist and chair of Chinese International Affairs at UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy, in an interview with KCBS Radio.
The escalating trade tensions have sparked concerns about a potential global recession, with Thursday’s market performance marking the worst trading day since June 2020 during the early COVID-19 pandemic. Many economists fear a return to 1970s-style stagflation, where rising prices coexist with economic contraction.
“Other countries are going to start standing up too, because they have their own domestic political pressures, and they have pride,” Naughton warned. This widening circle of retaliatory tariffs threatens to further disrupt global supply chains and accelerate price increases for American consumers.
TARIFFS: Trump hasn't increased a single tariff and yet America's 50 biggest trading partners are offering to reduce tariffs on US exports – some nations proposing taking them to zero. In the meantime he received a record jobs report and consumer spending is spiking as a result… pic.twitter.com/zyeIxKgCxN
— @amuse (@amuse) April 6, 2025
“Fantasy” Tariff Calculations Under Scrutiny
Experts have criticized the methodology behind Trump’s targeted tariff rates, which Naughton described as “fantasy reciprocal tariffs.” Rather than basing the rates on existing tariffs imposed by other countries on U.S. goods, the administration appears to have used trade deficits as the primary calculation factor.
“When they thought the country was a bad actor, they used the size of the U.S. trade deficit with that particular country and literally made up a number that they thought would equate to the amount of tariff it would take to rebalance trade with that country,” Naughton explained.
Singapore, which imposes zero tariffs on U.S. goods, was nonetheless hit with significant reciprocal tariffs due to America’s trade deficit with the city-state, illustrating the controversial approach.
Administration Defends Long-Term Strategy
The Trump administration continues to insist that any short-term economic shock will ultimately yield positive results by bringing manufacturing back to the United States and boosting tax revenues. Hassett denied speculation that the tariffs were designed to crash financial markets as a means of pressuring the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, stating there would be no “political coercion” of the central bank.
“I don’t think you will see a big effect on the consumer in the US because I do think that the reason why we have a persistent, long-run trade deficit is these people have very inelastic supply,” Hassett claimed. “They have been dumping goods into the country in order to create jobs, say, in China.”
However, major U.S. retail organizations have warned that prices for American consumers are “highly likely” to rise almost immediately, particularly after a 25% duty was imposed on exports from Mexico to the United States.
The administration has not clarified whether these tariffs will remain permanent or if they might be reduced through successful negotiations. As nations worldwide scramble to respond to this dramatic shift in U.S. trade policy, the coming weeks will prove critical in determining whether Trump’s tariff strategy leads to beneficial new trade agreements or devolves into an economically damaging global trade war.
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