[Source/Observer Network, Liu Chenghui] Under continuous counterattacks from China, Trump, who has been blindly imposing tariffs, has changed his tone.

On April 17 local time, US President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office of the White House that he did not want to continue increasing tariffs on China, as it might cause a standstill in trade between the two countries.

Bloomberg and other media reported that when asked how the US would respond to further countermeasures from China, Trump hinted to reporters that he might be willing to reduce tariffs.

"At some point, I don't want to increase tariffs anymore, because at a certain level, people will stop buying goods."

Trump then said: "So I may not want to increase tariffs anymore, or even reach the current level. I might want to reduce tariffs, because, you know, you want people to buy goods."

On April 17, Trump met with Italian Prime Minister Meloni at the White House. Visual China

On the other hand, Trump is still targeting China. It was reported that he tried to pressure countries into limiting trade with China through tariffs.

Bloomberg cited sources on April 17 saying that dozens of countries sought tariff reductions or exemptions from the US in exchange for the US preparing to require these countries to take measures to limit China's manufacturing power to prevent China from bypassing Trump's tariff policies.

The sources also said that Trump's senior economic advisors were considering a measure requiring secondary tariffs on imports from certain countries closely related to China.

Paul Krugman, professor at City University of New York and Nobel laureate in Economics in 2008, stated on April 16 that the US attempt to isolate China by reaching agreements with other countries is unlikely to succeed because Trump has completely lost credibility.

Krugman emphasized that unless other countries' governments believe that the US will abide by the agreement, an agreement cannot be reached. However, Trump tore up all existing trade agreements and made crazy modifications to his tariffs every few days, which has already destroyed America's credibility in this regard.

Earlier, the White House stated that the actual tariff rate on Chinese goods that officially took effect on April 10 was actually 145%, not the 125% mentioned the day before.

According to the White House's statement, in February and March, the US raised tariffs on Chinese goods twice, each by 10%; the 125% was the so-called "reciprocal tariff" rate. This means that since Trump entered the White House, the cumulative tariff rate imposed by the US on Chinese goods has reached 145%.

On the 15th, the White House website released a fact sheet about the 232 investigation on critical minerals and their derivatives, mentioning that due to China's retaliatory measures, Chinese exports to the US now face tariffs as high as 245%.

In response, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce stated that this fully exposes the fact that the US has irrationality in weaponizing tariffs.

The spokesperson emphasized that China had previously clarified its position on the US unilaterally increasing tariffs multiple times. For the US' meaningless tariff number games, China will not respond. But if the US insists on substantially infringing on China's rights and interests, China will firmly counteract and see it through to the end.

The US stock market continued to come under pressure this week. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell talked about the "challenging situation" that Trump's tariffs might bring to the economy.

Powell said on April 16 that Trump's tariffs "are very likely" to temporarily stimulate inflation and warned that these effects might last for a long time.

Under the influence of Powell's remarks and other factors, the US stock market closed significantly down that day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down nearly 700 points, a decline of 1.7%. The S&P 500 index fell by 2.24%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell by 3.07%.

In addition, the US Treasury bond market experienced intense fluctuations recently, with the yield of the 10-year Treasury note rising by the largest margin in 20 years last week.

Petra Hielkema, chairman of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), said on April 17 at a closed-door meeting of EU financial regulators that the recent intense fluctuations in the US Treasury bond market are raising questions about its status as a safe-haven asset.

Meanwhile, the US is rapidly losing export market shares in various fields to other countries.

An Australian media outlet mentioned on April 13 that while US beef exports to China have stalled, Australian grain-fed beef has seen a surge in demand in China. The export volume to China in February and March exceeded 20,000 tons, surging nearly 40% year-on-year.

According to Bloomberg data on April 17, Chinese importers have cut their purchases of US oil by about 90%, and are currently importing record amounts of Canadian crude oil.

This article is an exclusive contribution from Observer Network and is unauthorized for reprinting.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7494490936941003298/

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