[Source/Observer Network, Zhang Jingjuan] After China and the US each took a step back, the tariff war between the two countries temporarily came to an end.

According to Axios News Network, on May 21st local time, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick candidly admitted at an event that U.S. President Trump was "afraid" of the impact on American businesses due to tariffs.

"I admit that China's tariffs brought us pain last month, and I am afraid of it, the president is also afraid, but we must fight this battle," said Lutnick, adding that such pain is necessary and insisting that consumers will not face price increases.

He believed that the president must maintain a firm stance, "you cannot solve the problem in one day."

The report pointed out that this year, Trump raised tariffs on Chinese goods to 145%, effectively implementing a trade embargo against one of America's largest commercial partners. According to the Joint Statement of the Geneva Economic and Trade Talks between China and the United States, the U.S. will reduce the tariff on Chinese goods from 145% to 30%, while China will reduce the tariff on U.S. goods from 125% to 10%. Both sides have made equal reductions. The initial validity period for the tax adjustment is 90 days, and related negotiations will continue.

It was reported that Lutnick, who insisted that American consumers would not bear the cost of tariffs, was "contradicted" at the event that day.

When he asked the audience present whether anyone had personally felt the impact of tariffs, the audience responded loudly with "yes".

He also tried to defend himself by citing mild inflation data, claiming that tariffs had been in effect for weeks and had not affected consumers.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick - IC Photo

This U.S. commerce secretary revealed that the U.S. hopes to reach trade agreements with "most" major partners before the tariff suspension expires this summer.

The report stated that for months, the market has been plagued by uncertainties related to U.S. trade agreements, including unclear key information such as the number of agreements, timelines, and participating countries.

According to the latest data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce on April 30th, the U.S. GDP for the first quarter of 2025 contracted by 0.3% compared to the previous quarter, which was the worst quarterly performance of the U.S. economy since 2022. The department stated that the decline in GDP for the first quarter was mainly due to a significant increase in imports and reduced government spending. Specifically, net exports dragged down GDP by 4.83 percentage points that quarter. This indicates that companies are worried about possible increases in import tariffs and are hoarding inventory on a large scale. In that quarter, federal government spending decreased by 5.1%, dragging down economic growth by 0.33 percentage points.

Lutnick told Axios News Network that for most countries, the U.S. has clear goals and will determine specific cooperation directions before the summer.

On April 2nd, the Trump administration unilaterally imposed so-called "reciprocal tariffs" on virtually all goods from U.S. trading partners. On the 9th, after the "reciprocal tariffs" were only in effect for a few hours, Trump announced a 90-day deferral of taxes for most countries and regions except China, retaining a basic tariff of 10% during this period.

Now that nearly half of the 90-day deferral period has passed, Lutnick said that multiple trade negotiations are ongoing. However, the U.S. government has recently abandoned its initial idea of "concluding 90 agreements in 90 days."

Previously, White House trade advisor Navarro confidently claimed that the U.S. would finalize trade negotiations with 90 countries within three months. However, Reuters pointed out that for the understaffed Trump administration, coordinating 90 negotiations itself was a major challenge. Even the smallest trade agreement of Trump's first term—the revision of the automotive and steel clauses in the U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement—took more than eight months, and signing the comprehensive U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement with Canada and Mexico alone took over two years.

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Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7507102972682240527/

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