Trump said tariffs on China will 'come down substantially' but 'won't be zero'
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- On Tuesday, Trump said the 145% tariffs on China were "very high."
- He said tariffs will "come down substantially," but would not drop to zero.
- Trump previously floated a tariff respite for China if Beijing agreed to cut a deal with the US on TikTok.
President Donald Trump said final tariffs on goods from China would "not be anywhere near" the current rate of 145%, and would "come down substantially."
During a press conference in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump told reporters that "145% is very high, and it won't be that high."
"It'll come down substantially, but it won't be zero," he added.
The president's comments were in response to a question about Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said earlier on Tuesday that the tariffs between China and the US have essentially created a trade embargo.
Trump said the US was "going to be very good to China, have a great relationship with President Xi." He did not provide more details on whether he was in negotiations with Beijing over the tariffs.
Last week, Trump said he may not raise tariffs on China further, even if China continues to do so, saying there's a point at which "people don't buy."
Representatives for Trump and the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
Trump imposed a 10% tariff on China in February. He said the tariff was aimed at stemming the flow of drugs from China into the US.
Since then, the two countries have spent weeks stacking retaliatory tariffs on each other, escalating trade tensions. US tariffs on goods from China now stand at 145%. China has retaliated with 125% tariffs on US-made goods.
Trump has used tariffs as a negotiation strategy. On April 3, he said he would be open to reducing tariffs on countries if they were willing to give the US "something that's so phenomenal."
He floated a tariff relief for China if it agreed to a deal on TikTok. China's ByteDance, which owns TikTok, faces a looming deadline to divest from the app or have it banned in the US.
"Maybe I'll give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done, you know, because every point in tariffs is worth more money than TikTok," Trump said in March.