MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
President Trump is singing a slightly different tune when it comes to tariffs on China.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Here he is speaking with reporters at the White House yesterday.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We are...
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you thinking about lowering new (ph) tariffs?
TRUMP: ...Going to have a fair deal with China. It's going to be fair.
MARTÍNEZ: The president's high tariffs have sparked a trade war between the world's two largest economies. And while it's not clear Trump is actually changing policy yet, he is changing his tone.
MARTIN: To help us sort this out, we're joined now by NPR White House correspondent Asma Khalid. Asma, good morning.
ASMA KHALID, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: So what, at this point, is the White House saying about tariffs on China?
KHALID: Well, this week, we've heard the president and some of his top economic advisers acknowledge that the high tariff rates are not a sustainable long-term dynamic. And, you know, just to remind folks where we are at this point, Beijing has a hundred and twenty-five percent tariff on American goods. This was, of course, in response to a hundred and forty-five percent tariff rate that the Trump administration put on Chinese goods. On Tuesday, the president told reporters that that rate is going to come down substantially.
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TRUMP: A hundred and forty-five percent is very high, and it won't be that high - not going to be that high. It got up to that. We were talking about fentanyl where, you know, various elements built it up to a hundred and forty-five. No, it won't be anywhere near that high.
KHALID: Now, he did not give an actual number. And frankly, even if the tariff rate comes down by double digits, you're still looking at rates that are unprecedented in our lifetime.
MARTIN: Does this really seem like a shift after all this kind of tit-for-tat, back-and-forth escalation around this?
KHALID: I mean, it is. And there's really two main reasons for the shift. This tariff rate - you know, if they remain in place, they would virtually bring trade between China and the U.S. to a halt. But this is also fundamentally, Michel, about the stock market and the economic uncertainty that Trump's tariffs have created. You know, Trump initially acknowledged that there could be some sort of short-term economic pain, but that it would be worth it. And now you hear his team boasting that they're striking deals, that they're in conversation with some 90 countries. The Treasury secretary was also out there this week trying to quiet market jitters.
And on a somewhat related note, the president also tried to alleviate fears that he himself had stoked last week when he suggested that he would get rid of Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: No, I have no intention of firing him. I would like to see him be a little more active in terms of his idea to lower interest rates.
KHALID: But ultimately, Michel, I mean, much of the economic focus has been on tariffs. And specifically when it comes to China, the president has been softening his tough posturing. He said this week he's not going to play hardball with China's president, Xi Jinping.
MARTIN: OK, so let's talk more about China. Is this just a change in rhetoric, or do we see an actual change in policy?
KHALID: I mean, we're not seeing any change in policy yet, despite the optimism that President Trump is projecting. China is, of course, one of the U.S.' biggest trading partners. Anna Ashton was with the US-China Business Council for years. And so yesterday, I called her up. I wanted to get guidance on this all, and I asked her, you know, what is the off-ramp here? And she did not sound optimistic.
ANNA ASHTON: I don't think that the combination of constant threats and then wild swings in terms of how committed the White House is to those threats is likely to bring Xi Jinping to the table to negotiate a real truce.
KHALID: The president told reporters this week that if his administration cannot reach a deal with China, they'll just set a number unilaterally, by which he means they will set a tariff rate on their own.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Asma Khalid. Thanks, Asma.
KHALID: Good to speak with you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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