No tariff compromise to entice Beijing: Trump

Donald Trump says he won’t take the threat of permanent tariffs off the table or drop rates on China to get Beijing to the table, saying he’s not worried about the prospect of a US recession.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt watches as Donald Trump takes questions from the press on the South Lawn of the White House. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump says he won’t take the threat of permanent tariffs off the table or drop rates on China in order to entice Beijing to the negotiating table, arguing that he is not worried about the prospect of a US recession.

He also repeatedly said he did not know whether everybody in the US was entitled to due process under the constitution when questioned about his deportation program, arguing this would result in millions of trials for some of the “worst people on Earth”.

In an interview with Meet the Press on NBC News, the US President said he was currently accountable for “certain aspects” of the American economy, but acknowledged that he would ultimately be held responsible “for everything”.

“I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy,” he said. “I’ve only just been here for a little more than three months.”

Pressed on whether he would make clear the tariffs were not a permanent fixture of his administration, Mr Trump responded: “I wouldn’t do that because if somebody thought they were going to come off the table, why would they build in the United States?”

Yet he also said that he hoped to reduce tariffs on Beijing over time, declaring that “at some point, I’m going to lower them because otherwise, you could never do business with them”.

“And they want to do business very much. Look, their economy is really doing badly. Their economy is collapsing,” he said.

The US President used the interview to clarify his position on Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, saying he would not remove him from his current position before the expiry of his term in May 2026 – (although Mr Powell can remain on the board of governors until 2028).

“Why would I do that? I get to replace the person in another short period of time,” he said.

Mr Trump had previously expressed frustration at Mr Powell for not cutting interest rates, branding him a “total loser” and warning his actions could act as a drag on US economic growth.

He also said that seeking a third term was “not something I’m looking to do,” arguing that he was hoping to secure “four great years and turn it over to somebody, ideally a great Republican, a great Republican to carry it forward”.

“But I think we’re going to have four years. And I think four years is plenty of time to do something really spectacular,” he said.

Mr Trump suggested that his Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio could both be potential successors to him in the nation’s top job. He also said that Mr Rubio could serve as Secretary of State as well as National Security Adviser indefinitely.

Mr Rubio had been acting in the NSA role after he temporarily replaced Mike Waltz in the position. Mr Trump had switched out Mr Waltz, announcing last week that he was appointing him as America’s new ambassador to the UN.

The US President also said he was unsure whether everybody in America was entitled to due process, arguing that he wanted to “leave that to the lawyers. And I’ll leave that to the Attorney-General of the United States”.

“It (the US constitution) might say that,” he said. “But if you’re talking about that, then we’d have to have a million or 2 million or 3 million trials. We have thousands of people that are some murderers and some drug dealers and some of the worst people on Earth.

“I was elected to get them the hell out of here and the courts are holding me from doing it.”