4 Aug 2025: President Donald Trump has said the US is “not looking for leverage” when negotiating tariff rates for trade with other countries. “I’m looking for fairness,” he said, speaking to reporters Sunday night local time in Pennsylvenia.
He added that the US wants to see reciprocal tariffs “wherever we can”.
He claimed his tariff policy will “bring in hundreds of billions of dollars” into the US economy. He also accused his predecessor Joe Biden of mismanagement.
Trump’s comments come at a time when the US has signed several trade deals but is still in negotiations with multiple countries, including India.
On India, he has imposed a 25% blanket tariff, and not taken kindly to its trade relations with Russia — he said both countries had “dead economies” — but a sixth round of talks is likely to proceed in August when a team from the US arrives in India.
HT has reported that India and the US are working towards a mutually beneficial early trade deal by the end of this month, “strictly” within the bilaterally agreed framework of March 29, irrespective of the ongoing political rhetoric.
Trump, while not referring to any country in his Sunday interaction with reporters, acknowledged that equal reciprocal rates “may not be possible” for some countries.
Developing economies have historically levied higher tariffs on imports from richer countries, such as the US, so as to protect local markets from being overrun by foreign goods; while paying lower tariffs on selling their goods and services in the more developed regions.
Trump has vowed to change that, so that US manufacturers are not outpriced by foreign goods manufactured at lower costs in countries like China, for instance.
Summary :
Donald Trump clarified that the U.S. isn’t using tariffs as leverage, stating tariff decisions will be based on fairness and economic benefit, not negotiation tactics.