(NewsNation) — President Donald Trump met with the members of his Cabinet on Thursday, one day after he put a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs on more than 75 countries.
However, he did maintain a 10% tariff on nearly all global imports, as well as raised the reciprocal tariffs on China by 125%. This is on top of a 20% tariff that was already in place, making its total rate 145%.
Trump acknowledged to reporters that the United States is in uncharted territory.
“There will be a transition cost and transition problems, but in the end, it’s going to be a beautiful thing,” Trump said.
At the meeting, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he will be the point person handling negotiations on tariffs with different countries.
Trump’s tariffs paused as stock market continues to be affected
Trump’s tariffs have caused a lot of changes in the stock market. Wall Street took a hit again as markets opened Thursday, though world markets soared in the wake of Trump’s 90-day tariff pause.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 had all opened on Thursday down by about 2%. This comes after Wednesday’s S&P surge of 9.5%, which was its third-best day since 1940. This happened after Trump’s announcement on the 90-day pause.
In response to Trump’s tariff pause, Asian and European markets jumped during early trading. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 saw a 9.1% jump, while Germany’s DAX saw an initial 5.6% jump.
Late Wednesday night, Trump touted the gains on social media, writing, “What a day, but more great days coming!!!”
The pause announcement on Wednesday came a few days after the White House denied any such pause was in the works, calling previous reports “fake news.” Now, Trump says he had been thinking about a tariff walkback before, and his decision was the result of “flexibility.”
European Union pauses counter tariffs, China continues to fight
The European Union paused its counter-tariffs, which would’ve been on $23 billion of U.S. goods. That pause is also for 90 days.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on social media, “We took note of the announcement by President Trump. We want to give negotiations a chance… If negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in.”
However, the fight with China continues, with the country facing higher-than-ever levies from the U.S. On social media, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted a photo of a “Make America Great Again” hat with the tag “Made in China” — and the price marked up.
Trump still believes Chinese President Xi Jinping will call to make a deal, but Chinese officials have said they intend to “fight to the end” of the tariff battle.
“We are Chinese. We are not afraid of provocations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Thursday. “We don’t back down.”
Trump says he is ‘trying to get the world to treat us fairly’
Speaking to reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Trump said his administration is working with many different countries.
“We’re very, very happy with the way the country is running,” Trump said. “We’re trying to get the world to treat us fairly.”
Trump added that, at the end of the day, tariffs are going to be a “very beautiful thing.”
“It’s all going to work out very well,” Trump said. “I think it’s going to work out really very well, but we’re in good shape.”
Trump: ‘We can make deals easily, but we want to make them properly’
When asked how close the United States is to making a trade deal, Trump said he thinks they are, “but it has to be a deal we like.”
“We can make deals easily, but we want to make them properly,” Trump said.
Trump was also asked about the market volatility following the tariff announcement. He told reporters that Wednesday had been a “big day.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump is “reordering the world in a proper way.” He also said:
“For 31 years, more than 31 years now, multiple administrations have allowed the Chinese to de-industrialize our country, to take away jobs and factories. Basically, we’ve lived in a world where Chinese companies can do whatever they want in America, but our companies cannot do anything over there.”