President Donald Trump said he had not tracked the stock market decline when he met his cabinet secretary on Thursday amid growing trade tensions with China.
“I’ve been here for two and a half hours, so I haven’t seen it,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question about the market punting his Treasury Secretary, who was sitting on the other side of him.
“If you raise two, one is not a bad ratio. “And as we’ve said, when we decide with these countries that we intend to bring their best offers, we’ll end up in a place of great certainty over the next 90 days on tariffs.”
The Trump administration raised tariffs on Chinese goods to 145% after Washington exempts China’s tariffs as China temporarily cuts most of its mutual tariffs after China imposed its own retaliation fees on the United States.
Tariffs caused a week of economic disruption as the fears of the trade war increased sharply. After the 90-day negotiation period ended, when asked whether he would extend the period to reduce tariffs, the president refused to say.
Trump said debates are underway towards a potential deal with other countries, but he doesn’t feel urgent to hit a deal for one person. The president and his advisors said dozens of countries reached out to negotiate with the United States as he unfolded his tariffs.
During the meeting, Trump admitted that his tariffs would bring about “transition issues,” but ultimately said “it’s going to be beautiful.”
“We’re doing one more thing that should have been done years ago,” he added.