9 hours Ago By Katie Hawkinson
President Donald Trump says he hasn’t had time to buy birthday gifts for First Lady Melania Trump , suggesting he’s been “pretty busy” with tariffs. Yet the White House has yet to announce a single tariff deal. “I’ll take her to dinner on the Boeing, I’ll take her for dinner on Air Force One ,” Trump told reporters Friday.
“I haven’t had much time to buy presents. I’ve been pretty busy. But it’s working out.
People are starting to understand how good tariffs are ...
for us.” The First Lady ’s birthday is Saturday. Trump told Time magazine in an interview this week that he had already made “200 deals” with other countries to reduce tariffs, but there’s no evidence of that.
Neither he nor the White House named a single country or any details of any deal. “You have to understand, I’m dealing with all the companies, very friendly countries,” Trump said. “We’re meeting with China.
We’re doing fine with everybody. But ultimately, I’ve made all the deals..
The deal is a deal that I choose.” China, for one, has denied it’s involved in tariff negotiations with the Trump administration . Chinese officials have warned U.
S. officials to first stop threatening their country, and to approach leaders with respect . While Trump claims that people are starting to understand how “good” his tariffs are, Americans are telling pollsters they aren’t happy with his trade policies.
Just 34 percent of Americans say they support Trump’s efforts to raise tariffs , according to a Washington Post /ABC News/Ipsos poll published this week. While Trump claims that people are starting to understand how “good” his tariffs are, Americans are telling pollsters they aren’t happy at all with his trade policies. Just 34 percent of Americans say they support Trump’s efforts to raise tariffs , according to a Washington Post /ABC News/Ipsos poll published this week.
Meanwhile, 64 percent of Americans told pollsters they disapprove of the tariffs, making it one of the least popular policy moves Trump has made in office. Trump’s overall approval rating has also fallen to just 42 percent, a New York Times/Siena poll released this week shows. Two-thirds of respondents, including 75 percent of Independents and nearly half of Republicans, said they’d use the term “chaotic” to describe Trump’s presidency.
Trump imposed ten percent tariffs on goods from nearly every country earlier this month, and added extra levies depending on other nations’ trade relationships with the U.S. Days later, Trump issued a 90-day pause on the tariffs, though he continued his across-the-board 10 percent tariffs.
Trump officials claimed earlier this month that the administration will make 90 tariff deals within 90 days . Yet experts have said that’s an impossibility given the extensive analysis and careful negotiations required for such agreements that typically take months, if not years. Yet Trump is already claiming he has achieved more than twice that boast.
"Teeing up these decisions is going to take some serious negotiations," Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. Trade Representative chief negotiator, told Reuters .
"There's no way during this timeframe we're doing a comprehensive agreement with any of these countries.".
