A U-Turn on Tariffs

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 10 April 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After promising that tariffs against dozens of countries were here to stay, no matter how much they hurt businesses or the stock market, President Trump has abruptly reversed course. But there’s an exception: his levies on China, which he said he would raise to 125 percent. Jonathan Swan, who covers the White House, explains why the president changed his mind, and David Pierson, who covers China, discusses why Beijing won’t back down.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From New York Times, I'm Michael Bobarrow. This is the Daily.
0:09.5	President Trump says that he is pausing some of the tariffs that took effect overnight.
0:14.2	He announced a 90-day pause on most of his new tariffs.
0:18.4	After promising that tariffs against dozens of countries were here to stay, no matter how
0:24.4	much they hurt businesses or the stock market, President Trump has abruptly reversed course.
0:31.3	A universal 10% tariff is in place while country-specific deals come together and sector-specific tariffs remain.
0:38.9	It looks like the U.S. has blinked.
0:41.2	Except when it comes to China.
0:44.0	The president also saying that he will raise the tariff on Chinese imports now up to 125%.
0:50.4	Today, Jonathan Swan on why the president changed his mind, and David Pearson on why China won't back down.
1:06.2	It's Thursday, April 10th.
1:18.3	Hey, Jonathan.
1:22.4	Thank you for coming in very last minute and joining us.
1:24.1	Thanks for having me.
1:26.2	So the question here is very simple.
1:29.6	Why did Donald Trump reverse himself here and take the off-ramp from these tariffs that none of us thought he was very likely to take?
1:36.5	What happened here? Well, if you listen to the public explanations from his aides...
1:42.0	This negotiation went exactly the way we had hoped it would go.
1:47.0	This was the plan all along.
1:49.0	As I told everyone a week ago, do not retaliate, and you will be rewarded.
1:55.0	The Treasury Secretary, the Press Secretary.
1:57.0	Many of you in the media clearly missed the art of the deal.
	...

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