Trump Says 80% ‘Seems Right’ Ahead of China Talks, Leaves Final Call To Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

U.S. President Donald Trump stated in a TruthSocial post on Friday that an 80% tariff on China “seems right” ahead of the talks with China in Geneva to negotiate tariffs.

His post follows a Bloomberg report stating that the U.S. has set a target of reducing tariffs below 60% and securing the removal of China’s export restrictions on rare earth elements used to make magnets. 

Trump added that the decision is up to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. However, in Bessent’s testimony to Congress on Thursday, he explained that only Trump has the “final decision on any trade agreement” when asked if he had the authority to finalize trade deals.

In a separate post, Trump also wrote that China should open its markets to the U.S. because “closed markets don’t work anymore!”

Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are scheduled to attend the talks in Switzerland between May 9 and May 12, led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on the Chinese side.

According to Bloomberg’s report, citing people familiar with the matter, reducing tariffs to below 60% would be the first ideal step for the U.S., provided they feel China is prepared to match that level. 

The report also added that the weekend talks are likely to be exploratory. The two sides are likelier to air their grievances rather than finalize any solutions immediately.

Trump also indicated his intention to lower tariffs against China in comments on Thursday when announcing the trade deal with the U.K.

“You can’t get any higher — it’s at 145%, so we know it’s coming down,” Trump told reporters on Thursday as he announced the outlines of a U.S.-U.K. trade deal. “I think we are going to have a good weekend with China.”

U.S. stock futures edged higher in pre-market trade on Friday. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) was up 0.22% in pre-market trade, the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), which tracks the Nasdaq 100, was 0.31% higher, and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) notched a 0.20% gain.

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