Speaking aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump indicated he was not concerned about losses that have already wiped out trillions of dollars in value from equity markets around the world.
“I don’t want anything to go down,” he said as he returned from a weekend of golf in Florida.
“But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.
Trump said he had spoken to leaders from Europe and Asia over the weekend, who hope to convince him to lower tariffs as high as 50 percent due to take effect this week.
“They are coming to the table,” he said.
“They want to talk but there’s no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis.”
Trump’s barrage of tariffs announced last week was met with bewildered condemnation from other leaders and triggered retaliatory levies from China, the world’s No 2 economy.
Billionaire fund manager Bill Ackman, who endorsed Trump’s run for president, called for the tariffs to be paused to avert an “economic nuclear war”.
Investors and political leaders have struggled to determine whether Trump’s tariffs are part of a permanent new regime or a negotiating tactic to win concessions from other countries.
On Sunday morning talk shows, Trump’s top economic advisers sought to portray the tariffs as a savvy repositioning of the United States in the global trade order.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said more than 50 nations had started negotiations with the United States since Wednesday’s announcement.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the tariffs would remain in place “for days and weeks.”
Japan, one of Washington’s closest allies in Asia, is among countries hoping to strike some deal but its leader Shigeru Ishiba said on Monday results “won’t come overnight”. (Reuters)
