Posted on Wednesday, April 9, 2025

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by Alan Jamison

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Stocks continued their slide Wednesday as President Donald Trump’s 104% tariffs on Chinese goods kicked into effect and China responded with retaliatory 84% tariffs on U.S. goods. But amid the market turmoil are strong signs that Trump’s tariff agenda is having its intended effect as dozens of nations rush to negotiate new trade deals with the United States.

According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, approximately 70 countries have now reached out to the United States to negotiate and potentially eliminate tariffs. President Donald Trump placed a 10 percent tariff on all countries last week, as well as additional tariffs on those nations that have larger trade deficits with America.

Notable countries that have already reached out include India, Japan, Israel, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Thailand. The European Union, which consists of 27 countries, also wants a new deal. Bessent explained that Japan will likely receive priority in the negotiations.

“Japan is a very important military ally,” he said. “They’re a very important economic ally, and the U.S. has a lot of history with them. So, I would expect that Japan’s going to get priority just because they came forward very quickly. But it is going to be very busy.”

Bessent praised Japan, explaining that the country “remains among America’s closest allies” and that he is looking forward “to our upcoming productive engagement regarding tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers, currency issues, and government subsidies.”

“Spoke to the Japanese Prime Minister this morning,” Trump said Monday on Truth Social. “He is sending a top team to negotiate! They have treated the U.S. very poorly on Trade. They don’t take our cars, but we take MILLIONS of theirs.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to America on Monday to personally meet with Trump and discuss reducing tariffs with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

“We will eliminate the trade deficit with the United States,” Netanyahu said in his meeting with the president. “We intend to do it very quickly. We think it’s the right thing to do, and we’re going to also eliminate trade barriers, a variety of trade barriers that have been put up unnecessarily. And I think Israel can serve as a model for many countries who ought to do the same.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also reportedly plans to visit the United States next week to negotiate tariffs.

Democrats and most corporate media analysts have blasted Trump’s tariffs as a “trade war” that will harm American businesses and consumers. But the flood of nations rushing to negotiate trade deals on fairer terms to the United States suggests that Trump’s strategy could quickly yield favorable results.

Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin defended Trump’s tariffs by explaining that this is not the beginning of a trade war, but rather a rebalancing of the trade deficit with other nations.

“This isn’t a trade war,” Mullin said. “This is balancing our economy with countries that have taken advantage of us. There are countries for decades that have got rich over the backs of the workers here in America. What’s happened is we’ve lost manufacturing jobs because of our unfair trade deals that have left America, went to other countries building their products, and turning it back around and selling it to our economy.”

However, one nation that has so far refused to budge is China. But some business leaders believe Trump shouldn’t back down.

Appearing on CNN this week, Canadian entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary, a judge on Shark Tank, said Trump should continue to ramp up pressure on Beijing.

“104% tariffs on China are not enough. I’m advocating 400%,” O’Leary said. “I do business in China. They don’t play by the rules. They’ve been in the WTO for decades, and they have never abided by any of the rules they agreed to when they came in. For decades. They cheat, they steal, they steal IP. I can’t litigate in their courts. They take product technology, they steal it, they manufacture it and sell it back here.”

“I want [Chinese President Xi Jinping] on an airplane to Washington to level the playing field,” O’Leary continued. “This is not about tariffs anymore. Nobody has taken on China yet. Not the Europeans. No administration for decades. As someone who actually does business there, I’ve had enough. I speak for millions of Americans who have IP that have been stolen by the Chinese.”

Economists are divided over whether Trump’s strategy of using tariffs to force China to the negotiating table will be successful. But if it is, it could fundamentally rebalance global trade toward a more favorable position for the United States and begin reversing decades of globalist trade policy that decimated the U.S. manufacturing sector and the American working class.

Alan Jamison is the pen name of a political writer with extensive experience writing for several notable politicians and news outlets.