WASHINGTON, April 4 (Bernama-dpa) -- US President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested he is open to negotiations following his announcement of new sweeping global tariffs.
"If somebody said that we're going to give you something that's so phenomenal, as long as they're giving us something that's good," Trump said when asked if he would consider deals with affected countries, reported German news agency dpa.
The tariffs would give the US "great power" to negotiate, the US president added.
Trump cited the case of TikTok as an example. Under US law, the Chinese-owned video app was supposed to be sold by its parent company, ByteDance, or be taken offline in the US by January 19. However, Trump granted a 75-day extension, which expires on Saturday.
"We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, 'We'll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariff?'" Trump said aboard Air Force One.
"We put ourselves in the driver's seat. If we would have asked some of these country - almost most of these countries - to do us a favour, they would have said no. Now they'll do anything for us," Trump said.
A senior administration official had earlier stated that the new sweeping tariffs on imports were not up for negotiation.
Trump said that he expects many companies to relocate their production to the US. "Remember, there are no tariffs if you build your plant, or you build your product, make your product in the US."
On Wednesday, Trump put minimum tariffs of 10 per cent on most imports into the US but higher punitive tariffs are due for many countries, depending on their trade deficits.
--BERNAMA-dpa
