US President Donald Trump took aim at nations impacted by tariffs on Tuesday, mocking their desperate attempts to negotiate with him. Speaking at the National Republican Congressional Committee, Trump boasted about his superior negotiating skills, claiming that countries hit by tariffs were eager to strike deals with the United States.
“They are dying to make a deal—’please sir make a deal, I’ll do anything, I’ll do anything sir,'” Trump said, emphasizing his confidence in handling international negotiations.
Trump further dismissed concerns from some ‘rebel’ Republicans who argued that Congress should take over tariff negotiations. He asserted that if Congress had handled the situation, China would not have faced a 104% tariff. “If that were the case, China wouldn’t have been slapped with 104 per cent tariffs, and vice versa,” he said.
Mocking Congress, the President warned that any attempt by lawmakers to take control of tariff negotiations would harm the U.S. economy. “Congress takes over negotiating to sell America fast because you’re going to go busted,” Trump remarked. He predicted that such negotiations would be a victory for China, suggesting that under Congress’s approach, the U.S. would end up paying tariffs to China instead of the other way around.
Trump also promised to announce major tariffs targeting the pharmaceutical sector in the near future. “Tariffs on pharma will be there because we don’t make our own pharma drugs; they are made in another country,” he explained. The President argued that the U.S. is being overcharged for pharmaceuticals, with some drugs priced at over USD 10 more than in other countries.
“We are going to tariff pharma in such a way that companies will come rushing to us very soon,” he said, adding that the U.S. market’s size would attract pharmaceutical companies to relocate their manufacturing operations back to the U.S. “Very shortly, we will announce a major tariff on pharma, and when these companies hear that, they will leave China and other countries because most of their products are sold here. And they will be opening their plants here,” Trump concluded.
(With ANI inputs)
