‘Lack of respect’
While pausing his broader tariff initiative — though maintaining a 10 percent “reciprocal” tariff on almost all countries, plus drastic measures targeting metals — Trump ratcheted up tariffs against China to 125 percent.
That move, he posted on social media, was based “on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets.” Beijing had retaliated against Trump, implementing its own massive tariffs on American imports.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, German Chancellor-designate Friedrich Merz and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also exhaled over Trump’s climbdown.
“Let’s make the best of the next 90 days,” Tusk said Wednesday. According to Merz, the new measures announced by the U.S. showed the benefits of European unity, while Sánchez said it “seems to open the door to negotiation and thus to an agreement between countries.”
“The European Commission will now take the necessary time to assess this latest development, in close consultation with our Member States and industry, before deciding on next steps,” Olof Gill, Commission spokesperson on trade, said Thursday morning.
This story has been updated.