Trump tariffs updates: US ‘not looking at’ pausing tariffs for trade talks

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You can read about the apparent chasm between Trump’s aides – billionaire Elon Musk and adviser Peter Navarro – on trade here.

Watch Trump’s comments claiming that the US is having “direct talks” with Iran here.

And follow our broader coverage of the Trump administration here.

This live page will be closing soon. Here’s a recap of today’s major events:

• US and global markets continued on their downward spirals, amid US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, wiping out billions of dollars in stock value.
• Despite the market’s downturn, Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro dismissed talks of a recession as “silly”.
• The US president threatened 50 percent tariffs on Chinese goods if Beijing does not withdraw the retaliatory levies it imposed on American products.
• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union stands “ready to negotiate” with the US over trade.
• Trump suggested the US is not considering pausing tariffs to allow for trade talks with other countries.
• The US president hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House for the second time this year, but did not reverse the 17 percent tariffs he imposed on Israel.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says dozens of countries are looking to hold trade negotiations with Washington.

“There are 50, 60, maybe almost 70 countries now, who have approached us, so it’s going to be a busy April, May, maybe into June,” Bessent told Fox News.

“President Trump again gave himself maximum negotiating leverage, and just when he achieved the maximum leverage, he’s willing to start talking.”

Matt Duss, the executive vice president at the Center for International Policy, says Trump has shown no signs that he will lift the 17 percent tariffs he has imposed on Israel, despite Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to the White House.

“So I think for the moment, Netanyahu has to be a bit disappointed about that,” Duss told Al Jazeera.

Netanyahu had lauded Trump’s policies and said Israel was removing trade barriers on US goods.

But the US president did not commit to revoking the tariffs, noting that Israel already receives billions of dollars in US military aid.

Trump says the US is holding direct talks with Iran on its nuclear programme.

He says they will have a “very big meeting” on Saturday but declined to say where it would be or who would attend.

As Trump doubled down on tariffs that have upended global markets, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada will struggle to avoid a recession if the United States is hit by one.

Trump’s trade war has “significantly” raised the prospect of a recession in the US, Carney said, warning that this also makes Canada’s economy vulnerable to a downturn.

“It’s very hard for us to avoid that,” Carney said at a campaign event ahead of elections later this month, which will be dominated by Trump’s trade wars and his stated desire to annex Canada.

Trump has resolutely defended the sweeping tariffs he announced last week, which have spooked traders and fanned fears of a global recession.

Trump has reiterated his opposition to Russia’s bombing of Ukraine as his administration participates in talks seeking an end to the fighting there.

“I’m not happy about what’s going on” in Ukraine, the Republican told reporters in the White House, accusing Russia of “bombing like crazy right now”, even as he said the parties were “sort of close” to a deal.

Russia’s war on Ukraine has been ongoing for more than three years, and Trump described the relentless attacks as “not a good situation”.

“So, we’re meeting with Russia, we’re meeting with Ukraine, and we’re getting sort of close, but I’m not happy with all the bombing that’s going in the last week or so,” he said. “It’s a horrible thing.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a phone call with India’s Subrahmanyam Jaishanka and discussed “opportunities to deepen collaboration in the Indo-Pacific region”, the US Department of State says.

“They also discussed US reciprocal tariffs on India and how to make progress toward a fair and balanced trade relationship,” it added.

Trump imposed 27 percent tariffs on Indian goods, but New Delhi has not announced any retaliatory levies.

The US and India have strengthened their ties in recent years as both countries look to compete with Chinese influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

The US Supreme Court has paused a lower court order demanding that the Trump administration repatriate a Salvadoran migrant who was wrongfully deported last month.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, who was living in the eastern US state of Maryland, was among more than 200 people sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador last month as part of Republican President Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented migrants.

US District Judge Paula Xinis ordered Friday that Abrego Garcia be returned to the United States by 11:59pm ET (03:59 GMT) on Monday after Justice Department lawyers admitted he was deported due to an “administrative error”.

A federal appeals court unanimously upheld the decision, with Judge Harvie Wilkinson, an appointee of former Republican President Ronald Reagan, writing: “There is no question that the government screwed up here.”

The Trump administration appealed to the conservative-dominated Supreme Court, which issued a stay of the district judge’s repatriation order pending further consideration of the case.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts asked attorneys for Abrego Garcia to submit arguments by 5pm (21:00 GMT) on Tuesday.

The Trump administration, in asking the Supreme Court to overturn the lower court’s order, called it “unprecedented and indefensible” and a “demand that the United States let a member of a foreign terrorist organization into America tonight”.

China says it would not cave to pressure or threats after Trump promised additional 50 percent tariffs on its goods if Beijing did not retract planned countermeasures.

“We have stressed more than once that pressuring or threatening China is not a right way to engage with us. China will firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” Liu Pengyu, spokesman for Beijing’s embassy in the United States, told AFP.

The US president has given his first extensive remarks today amid the market meltdown from his international tariffs. Here’s some of what Trump had to say:

On trade: 

• “We have an opportunity to change the fabric of our country. We have an opportunity to reset the table on trade.”
• “They can be permanent tariffs, and there can also be negotiations, because there are things that we need beyond tariffs.”

On Gaza

• “You know how I feel about the Gaza Strip; I think it’s an incredible piece of important real estate.”
• “If you take the people, the Palestinians, and move them around to different countries – and you have plenty of countries that will do that – and you really have a freedom zone.”

On Iran

• “There’s a major meeting going on between US and Iran, and that will take place on Saturday, and it’s at top level.”
• “If the talks aren’t successful with Iran, I think Iran is going to be in great danger.”

Bessent says he and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will hold negotiations with Japanese officials to implement Trump’s vision “for the new Golden Age of Global Trade” with Japan.

“Japan remains among America’s closest allies, and I look forward to our upcoming productive engagement regarding tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers, currency issues, and government subsidies,” Bessent said in a statement on social media.

“I appreciate the Japanese government’s outreach and measured approach to this process.”

Following a very constructive phone discussion with the Government of Japan, @POTUS @realDonaldTrump has tasked me and @USTradeRep to open negotiations to implement the President’s vision for the new Golden Age of Global Trade with @JPN_PMO Shigeru Ishiba and his Cabinet. https://t.co/oSXTh5ONOe

— Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) April 7, 2025

The White House has voiced opposition to a bipartisan bill that would require congressional approval for new tariffs, saying Trump would veto it if legislators approve it.

“If passed, this bill would dangerously hamper the president’s authority and duty to determine our foreign policy and protect our national security,” the White House said in a statement to Congress, as reported by several US media outlets.

The bill was introduced by Senators Maria Cantwell, a Democrat, and Chuck Grassley, a Republican, last week.

Republican Congressman Don Bacon introduced a similar measure in the House of Representatives.

Earlier this month, four Republicans joined the Democratic minority in the Senate to pass a bill to revoke the state of emergency Trump is using to impose new tariffs on Canada.

For a bill to become law, it has to pass by a simple majority in the House and the Senate and be signed by the president.

If the president blocks a bill, Congress can override the veto with two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate.

Peter Navarro, an adviser to the US president, has written a column in the Financial Times, raging against what he describes as unfair trading practices that he says have transferred trillions of dollars from the US into foreign hands.

Navarro took aim at the World Trade Organization, which sets standards and manages international trade disputes, accusing the agency of failing to protect US industries from unfair tariffs and regulations by other countries.

He also slammed other measures that he said other countries use against the US, including currency manipulation, state-owned enterprises that can afford heavy losses and intellectual property theft.

“This is not a negotiation. For the US, it is a national emergency triggered by trade deficits caused by a rigged system,” Navarro wrote.

“President Trump is always willing to listen. But to those world leaders who, after decades of cheating, are suddenly offering to lower tariffs – know this: that’s just the beginning.”

UK leader Keir Starmer has promised to “shelter British business from the storm” of global economic disruption as he loosened electric vehicle targets for carmakers impacted by Trump’s tariffs.

The world’s auto sector has been hit hard by Washington’s sweeping new levies, which impose a 25 percent tariff on vehicles imported into the United States.

Starmer unveiled plans to give manufacturers more flexibility in transitioning to electric vehicles in a bid to boost the sector as it battles the higher costs of the levies.

He told staff and journalists at a car factory in England’s West Midlands region that the measures were a “downpayment” and not “the extent of the turbocharging” to help businesses deal with tariffs.

“In the coming days and weeks, we’re going to use industrial policy to shelter British business from the storm,” the prime minister added.

He called the levies “a huge challenge” for the future, warning that the “global economic consequences could be profound”.

In an early sign of the fallout, UK luxury car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover announced over the weekend that it would “pause” shipments to the US in April as it addressed “the new trading terms”.