Over 50 countries approach US for talks amid tariff chaos
More than 50 countries have reached out to the White House to begin trade talks, a top economic adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday as US officials sought to defend sweeping new tariffs that have unleashed global turmoil.
During an interview on ABC News’ ‘This Week,’ US National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett denied that the tariffs were part of a strategy by Trump to crash financial markets to pressure the U.S. Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.
He said there were would be no “political coercion” of the central bank. In a Truth Social post on Friday, Trump shared a video that suggested his tariffs aimed to hammer the stock market on purpose in a bid to force lower interest rates.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent downplayed the stock market drop and said there was “no reason” to anticipate a recession based on the tariffs.
Trump jolted economies around the world after he announced broad tariffs on US imports on Wednesday, triggering retaliatory levies from China and sparking fears of a globe trade war and recession.
On Sunday morning talk shows, top Trump officials sought to portray the tariffs as a savvy repositioning of the U.S. in the global trade order and the economic disruptions as a short-term fallout.
EU to project unity
European Union countries will seek to present a united front in the coming days against US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, likely approving a first set of targeted countermeasures on up to $28 billion of US imports from dental floss to diamonds.
Such a move would mean the EU joining China and Canada in imposing retaliatory tariffs on the United States in an early escalation of what some fear will become a global trade war, making goods more expensive for billions of consumers and pushing economies around the world into recession.
The 27-nation bloc faces 25% import tariffs on steel and aluminium and cars and “reciprocal” tariffs of 20% from Wednesday for almost all other goods.
Trump’s tariffs cover some 70% of the EU’s exports to the United States — worth in total 532 billion euros ($585 billion) last year - with likely duties on copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and timber still to come.
The European Commission, which coordinates EU trade policy, will propose to members late on Monday a list of US products to hit with extra duties in response to Trump’s steel and aluminium tariffs rather than the broader reciprocal levies.
It is set to include US meat, cereals, wine, wood and clothing as well as chewing gum, dental floss, vacuum cleaners and toilet paper.
