White House keeps world guessing as clock ticks down to Trump's new tariffs - The Boston Globe

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

75% : On Tuesday morning, Trump posted on Truth Social that he spoke with South Korea's acting president, Han Duck-soo, about "their tremendous and unsustainable" surplus.
72% : House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana said Americans understand Trump is trying to address trade imbalances, and he emphasized his trust in the president.
70% : "Who hires people and trains workers based on the hope that Donald Trump will not change his mind again and again and again?" Trump claimed on Tuesday that "America's going to be very rich again very soon" and said his team was negotiating with other countries.
57% : Last Thursday, while flying to Florida aboard Air Force One, Trump told reporters that "the tariffs give us great power to negotiate.
52% : For now, as the tariffs are set to kick in, there's no clear resolution for what could be the most significant overhaul of international trade in a generation.
49% : Trump placed a 24% tariff on Japan and a separate 25% tariff on auto imports, much higher than the 1.9% average tariff rate charged by Japan, according to World Trade Organization data.
48% : " But other officials like Kevin Hassett, the top White House economic adviser, and Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, said scores of countries are lining up to negotiate with Trump over tariffs.
42% : Trump has long advocated for tariffs as the solution to economic challenges, and his insistence that other countries are ripping off the United States is one of his most consistently expressed beliefs over the years.
39% : " On the flight back to Washington on Sunday, Trump described the tariffs as a necessity and said he was undeterred by the cratering stock market, adding that "sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.
38% : Trump has called the auto tariffs "permanent" and also installed a permanent 10% baseline tariff on most countries, suggesting a limit as to how much rates could fall through negotiations.
31% : He said Trump "gave himself maximum negotiating leverage, and just when he achieved the maximum leverage, he's willing to start talking." Speaking Monday at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, Stephen Miran, chairman of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers, said the mixed messages over the purpose of the tariffs reflected a "healthy" internal debate.
31% : " Michael Strain, an economist at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, said Trump is pursuing incompatible goals.
30% : Trump insists that he wants to erase trade deficits that have developed as the US buys more products from other countries than it sells.
28% : But China already retaliated with plans for its own 34% tariffs, prompting Trump on Monday to threaten additional 50% tariffs against the country, for a total of 104%.
22% : " But on Monday, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would "eliminate the trade deficit with the United States," Trump appeared unmoved.
10% : " Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said Trump was causing economic chaos with the back-and-forth over tariffs.

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