ATLANTA: Trump administration officials were out in force across the television networks Sunday defending President Donald Trump鈥檚 economic policies after another week of reeling markets that saw the Republican administration reverse course on some of its steepest tariffs.
Trump, meanwhile, said on his social media platform that there ultimately will be no exemptions for his sweeping tariff agenda, disputing characterizations that he has granted tariff exceptions for certain electronics, including smart phones, whose production is concentrated in China. Rather, Trump said, 鈥渢hose products are subject to the existing 20 percent Fentanyl Tariffs, and they are just moving to a different Tariff 鈥榖ucket.鈥欌€�
White House advisers and Cabinet members tried to project confidence and calm amid Trump鈥檚 on-again, off-again approach to tariffs on imported goods from around the world. But their explanations about the overall agenda, coupled with Trump鈥檚 latest statements, also reflected shifting narratives from a president who, as a candidate in 2024, promised an immediate economic boost and lower prices but now asks American businesses and consumers for patience.
A week ago, Trump鈥檚 team stood by his promise to leave the impending tariffs in place without exceptions. They used their latest news show appearances to defend his move to ratchet back to a 10 percent universal tariff for most nations except China (145 percent), while seeming to grant exemptions for certain electronics like smartphones, laptops, hard drives, flat-panel monitors and semiconductor chips.
Here are the highlights of what Trump lieutenants said last week vs. Sunday:
There are varying answers on the purpose of the tariffs
Long before launching his first presidential campaign in 2015, Trump bemoaned the offshoring of US manufacturing. His promise is to reindustrialize the United States and eliminate trade deficits with other countries.
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Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, interviewed on CBS鈥� 鈥淔ace the Nation,鈥� played up national security. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to realize this is a national security issue,鈥� he said, raising the worst-case scenarios of what could happen if the US were involved in a war.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 make medicine in this country anymore. We don鈥檛 make ships. We don鈥檛 have enough steel and aluminum to fight a battle, right?鈥� he said.
SUNDAY
Lutnick stuck to that national security framing, but White House trade adviser Peter Navarro focused more on the import taxes being leverage in the bigger economic puzzle.
鈥淭he world cheats us. They鈥檝e been cheating us for decades,鈥� Navarro said on NBC鈥檚 鈥淢eet the Press.鈥� He cited practices such as dumping products at unfairly low prices, currency manipulation and barriers to US auto and agricultural products entering foreign markets.
Navarro insisted the tariffs would yield broader bilateral trade deals to address all those issues. But he also relied on a separate justification when discussing China: the illicit drug trade.
鈥淐hina has killed over a million people with their fentanyl,鈥� he said.
Speaking before Trump鈥檚 Truth Social post disputing the notion of exemptions, Lutnick alluded to that coming policy. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to have a special focus-type of tariff to make sure that those products get reshored,鈥� he told ABC鈥檚 鈥淭his Week.鈥�
The status of negotiations with other nations, including China, remains fuzzy
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With the higher rates set to be collected beginning April 9, administration officials argued that other countries would rush to the negotiating table.
鈥淚鈥檝e heard that there are negotiations ongoing and that there are a number of offers,鈥� Kevin Hassett, director of the White House Economic Council, told ABC. He claimed that 鈥渕ore than 50 countries (were) reaching out,鈥� though he did not name any.
SUNDAY
Navarro named the United Kingdom, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Israel as among the nations in active negotiations with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Lutnick and other officials.
Greer said on CBS that his goal was 鈥渢o get meaningful deals before 90 days鈥� 鈥�- the duration of Trump鈥檚 pause -鈥� 鈥渁nd I think we鈥檙e going to be there with several countries in the next few weeks.鈥�
Talks with China have not begun, he said. 鈥淲e expect to have a conversation with them,鈥� he said, emphasizing it would be between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump took an aggressive tone himself Sunday in his social media post, saying 鈥渨e will not be held hostage by other Countries, especially hostile trading Nations like China, which will do everything within its power to disrespect the American People.鈥�
Navarro was not as specific about Beijing. 鈥淲e have opened up our invitation to them,鈥� he said. Lutnick characterized the outreach as 鈥渟oft entrees 鈥� through intermediaries.鈥�
Pressed on whether there is any meaningful back and forth, Navarro said, 鈥淭he president has a very good relationship with President Xi.鈥�
Then he proceeded to criticize several China鈥檚 polices and trade practices.
The pitches are different, but confidence is constant
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Navarro was bullish even after US and global trading markets suffered trillions of dollars in losses.
鈥淭he first rule, particularly for the smaller investors out there, you can鈥檛 lose money unless you sell. And, right now, the smart strategy is not to panic,鈥� he said on Fox News Channel鈥檚 鈥淪unday Morning Futures.鈥�
SUNDAY
Navarro鈥檚 optimism did not waver despite another net-loss week for securities markets and rocky bond markets. 鈥淪o, this is unfolding exactly like we thought it would in a dominant scenario,鈥� he said.
Others confronted some of the more complex realities of trying to achieve Trump鈥檚 goal of restoring a bygone era of US manufacturing.
Lutnick suggested the focus is on returning high-tech jobs, while sidestepping questions about lower-skilled manufacturing of goods such as shoes that could mean higher prices because of higher wages for US workers. But some of that high-tech production is what Trump has, for now, exempted from the tariffs that he and his advisers frame as leverage for forcing companies to open US facilities.
Hassett did acknowledge widespread angst.
鈥淭he survey data has been showing that people are anxious about the changes a little bit,鈥� he said, before steering his answer to employment rates. 鈥淭he hard data,鈥� he said, 鈥渉as been really, really strong.鈥�