US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that foreign governments will have to pay “a lot of money” to lift sweeping tariffs likening them to “medicine”, as financial markets point to a rough week ahead.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, the President suggested he was not concerned about market losses that have already wiped out nearly $6 trillion in value from US stocks.
“I don’t want anything to go down. But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” Trump said, reported Reuters.
#WATCH | As the US stock markets tumbled after the imposition of retaliatory tariffs, US President Donald Trump says, “…I don’t want anything to go down. But, sometimes, you have to take medicines to fix up things.”
(Source – US Network Pool via Reuters) pic.twitter.com/kzeliFsu7r
— ANI (@ANI) April 7, 2025
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He further said that he had spoken to leaders from Europe and Asia over the weekend, who hope to convince Trump to lower the tariffs as high as 50 per cent, which are due to take effect this week.
Trump also indicated there won’t be any negotiations “unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis.”
Market Turmoil
The Asian markets suffered turmoil at opening on Monday as stocks plunged more than 9 per cent in Hong Kong following China’s retaliatory tariffs on the US. Singapore stocks also plummeted over 7 per cent while Taiwan stock exchange saw a 9.8 per cent plunge at open.
Australian stock index fell 6 per cent at open while Japan’s Nikkei index was down over 7 per cent.
Trump’s move to tariff several dozen countries last week jolted economies around the world, prompting retaliatory tariffs from China and sparking fears of a global trade war and recession.
EU To Present United Front
Countries of the European Union will seek to present a united front in the coming days against Trump’s tariffs as they are likely to approve a first set of targeted countermeasures on up to $28 billion of U.S. imports from dental floss to diamonds.
Such a move would place the EU on the list of countries including China and Canada to impose retaliatory tariffs on the United States. The countermeasure, some fear will become a global trade war, making goods more expensive for billions of consumers and pushing economies around the world into recession.
The EU faces 25 per cent import tariffs on steel aluminium and cars and “reciprocal” tariffs of 20 per cent from Wednesday for almost all other goods.
The tariffs imposed by the US cover some 70 per cent of the EU’s exports to the United States, worth 532 billion euros last year. Duties are also likely to be levied on n copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and timber.
