Trump says he will not drop tariffs to get China to negotiating table

President Donald Trump said he will not drop tariffs on China to get Beijing to come to the negotiating table. 

The president discussed his stance on the tariffs, which he defended, in an interview with NBC’s “Meet The Press” recorded Friday from his Mar-a-Lago estate. He claimed that 

“They said today they want to talk. Look, China, and I don’t like this. I’m not happy about this. China’s getting killed right now,” Trump told host Kristen Welker. “They’re getting absolutely destroyed. Their factories are closing. Their unemployment is going through the roof. I’m not looking to do that to China now. At the same time, I’m not looking to have China make hundreds of billions of dollars and build more ships and more Army tanks and more airplanes.” 

“You’re not dropping the tariffs against China to get them to the negotiating table?” Welker asked. 

Trump responded, “No.”

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President Donald Trump speaks in the Cross Hall of the White House during an event on “Investing in America” on April 30, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Trump was joined by CEOs to highlight their companies during the event.  (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“At some point, I’m going to lower them, because otherwise you could never do business with them,” he added later. “And they want to do business very much like their economy is really doing badly. Their economy is collapsing.” 

Trump pushed back on the premise of Welker’s question about whether he’d consider relief for small businesses. The president said the NBC host should consider larger businesses, such as the car industry, that “are going to make a fortune” because of his tariff plan. Trump also declined to rule out making some tariffs permanent, claiming the U.S. could expect $9 trillion worth of new investments since he took office. 

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He noted that Apple and other tech companies, as well as automobile companies, such as Toyota, Honda, General Motors and Stellantis, have made multi-billion-dollar commitments to bring their plants to the United States. 

The Chinese government has assembled a list of American products that would be exempt from its 125% tariffs on U.S. goods, Reuters reported last week. Beijing already has exemptions for some U.S. pharmaceuticals, microchips and aircraft engines. 

Trump also declined to rule out a potential recession in the short term, though he promised the “greatest economic boom in history.”

“Is it okay in the short term to have a recession?” Welker asked. 

“Look, yeah. . . . Everything’s okay,” Trump responded, arguing that the U.S. economy is in a “transition period” and “we’re going to do fantastically.” 

“Are you worried about a recession?” Welker asked.

President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping

To that, Trump responded flatly, “No.” 

“Are you worried it could happen? Do you think it could happen?” she pressed. 

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“Anything can happen,” Trump said. “But I think we’re going to have the greatest economy in the history of our country. I think we’re going to have the greatest economic boom in history.”