Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, told ABC News that the White House has been flooded with trade calls after the tariffs took effect: "I got a report from the USTR last night (the office of the US trade representative) that more than 50 countries have reached out to the president to begin a negotiation."
"But they are doing that because they understand that they bear a lot of the tariff," he continued. "And so I don’t think you will see a big effect on the consumer in the US because I do think that the reason why we have a persistent, long run trade deficit is these people have very inelastic supply. They have been dumping goods into the country in order to create jobs say in China."
The new tariffs, which kicked in yesterday, include a 10 percent "baseline" duty on most imports and can go as high as 50 percent in some cases. The goal, according to the Trump administration, is to punish countries that block US exports and run up America’s trade deficit.
Some countries are already backing down already. Indonesia and Taiwan both said they don’t plan to retaliate with their own tariffs. Meanwhile, Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu is traveling to Washington to talk trade directly with Trump.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer reacted to the tariffs by saying "The world as we knew it has gone" and said Britain was preparing to defend its economy, according to the BBC.
Concerns from experts and retailers persist that prices could go up faster than US shoppers can handle with items like cars, clothes, and electronics expected to get more expensive. Major stores warned prices could rise almost right away, especially with the 25 percent tariff on goods from Mexico.
Trump has told Americans to "hang tough" even though the markets have been shaky. Hassett pushed back on claims that the administration is trying to crash markets on purpose to get the Federal Reserve to lower rates.
