NEW YORK, May 4. /TASS/. The customs duties imposed by the US on some countries may never be lifted, US President Donald Trump admitted in an interview with NBC News.
He was asked whether the duties would remain on a permanent basis or be waived later. "No, I wouldn’t do it, because if somebody thought they were going to come off the table, why would they build in the United States?" he said.
He said he was "very tough with China" in trade issues, but now Beijing is eager for a deal with Washington. "This means we are not losing a trillion dollars, because we are not doing business with them right now. And they want to make a deal. They want to make a deal very badly. We’ll see how that all turns out, but it’s gonna be a fair deal," he said.
The president said that he would not make exceptions to the duties for the American small businesses, saying that entrepreneurs do not need this.
On April 2, Trump announced the imposition of customs duties on 185 countries and territories. Russia is not on this list.
Universal tariffs of 10% came into force on April 5, individual tariffs on April 9. Later Trump suspended the effect of the additional import duties imposed reciprocally on some countries for 90 days. The White House explained that the pause is related to trade negotiations, during which a "universal tariff of 10%" will be in effect.
At the same time, the head of the Washington administration increased duties on Chinese products to 125%. Earlier, a 20% tariff was also imposed for allegedly insufficient efforts by Canada, China and Mexico to combat smuggling of fentanyl into the United States.
The US duties on goods from China currently total 145%. China in response raised tariffs on American goods to 125% from April 12.