US President Donald Trump has suspended the implementation of some tariffs or made them less drastic after speaking with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). However, this was only possible because Trump’s trade advisor Peter Navarro was not constantly in close proximity to Trump. “The two ministers convinced Trump of the necessity of suspending the introduction of some tariffs and announcing it immediately to calm the stock markets” the WSJ reports. Bessent and Lutnick were able to convince the US president only by taking advantage of Navarro’s absence, who strongly supports the idea of introducing tariffs on other countries. They waited until Navarro had to go to a meeting in another wing of the White House and then rushed into the Oval Office to isolate Trump and convince him without Navarro interrupting. They did not leave the Oval Office until Trump had finished and sent out a message about the matter on the social network Truth Social. Navarro was shocked by this development. On April 2, President Trump signed an implementing order to introduce “reciprocal” tariffs on imports from other countries. The basic interest rate is ten percent. And on April 9, increased rates were introduced for 57 countries, calculated based on the US trade deficit with a certain country – in order to achieve balance instead of a deficit. However, on April 9, Trump announced that more than 75 countries had not taken countermeasures and requested negotiations, so a basic import tariff of ten percent would apply for all countries except China for 90 days.
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