President Donald Trump on Friday said there will be “flexibility” on his reciprocal tariff plan, even as he seemed to oppose the idea of making exceptions for the forthcoming duties.
“People are coming to me and talking about tariffs, and a lot of people are asking me if they could have exceptions,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“And once you do that for one, you have to do that for all,” he said.
Trump, an avowed fan of tariffs, also insisted that he did not change his mind when he gave top automakers a one-month exemption on a prior round of import duties in early March.
“I don’t change. But the word flexibility is an important word,” he said. “Sometimes it’s flexibility. So there’ll be flexibility, but basically it’s reciprocal.”
Trump has hyped the April 2 start date for his reciprocal tariffs as America’s “liberation day.”
Trump and his officials say the plan will effectively assign tariff rates to all countries that have their own tariffs on U.S. goods. Countries with other non-tariff trade policies that the Trump administration opposes, such as value-added taxes, could also be subject to new duties.
Trump also said Friday that he plans to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Beijing has already slapped retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural products in response to Trump’s broad tariffs on Chinese imports.
Trump has issued a flurry of tariff announcements since retaking the White House, fanning investor uncertainty and fears of a major trade war.