More than 50 countries have contacted White House to start trade talks - Trump adviser

More than 50 countries have reached out to the White House to begin trade talks, the US national economic council director Kevin Hassett has told ABC News’ This Week programme. He said:

I got a report from the USTR last night (the office of the US trade representative) that more than 50 countries have reached out to the president to begin a negotiation.

But they are doing that because they understand that they bear a lot of the tariff.

And so I don’t think you will see a big effect on the consumer in the US because I do think that the reason why we have a persistent, long run trade deficit is these people have very inelastic supply.

They have been dumping goods into the country in order to create jobs say in China.

Kevin Hassett speaks to members of the media at the White House. Kevin Hassett speaks to members of the media at the White House. Photograph: Kent Nishimura/Reuters

Hasset denied that the tariffs were part of a strategy by Trump to crash financial markets to pressure the US federal reserve to cut interest rates, insisting there were would be no “political coercion” of the central bank.

As we have been reporting throughout the day, goods imported from dozens of countries and territories are now going to be taxed at sharply higher rates, and that is expected to drive up the costs of everything from cars to clothes to computers.

These tariffs – which can run as high as 50% - are meant to punish countries for trade barriers that Trump says unfairly limit US exports and cause it to run huge trade deficits.

It is unclear whether the tariffs will be long lasting or if Washington will lower or drop them in response to other countries negotiating to reduce their own tariffs and other trade barriers.

US retail giants predicted that prices were “highly likely” to start rising for US almost immediately after a 25% duty came into effect on exports from Mexico to the US.

Americans have been warned to brace for higher prices more generally too, with households fearing a recession in the future and higher inflation because of tariffs.

Trump’s team has said any short term shock to the economy will be worth the net positives of the tariffs, which the US president claims will help bring manufacturing back to the states and boost tax revenues.

Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te on Sunday offered zero tariffs as the basis for talks with the U.S., pledging to remove trade barriers rather than imposing reciprocal measures and saying Taiwanese companies will raise their U.S. investments.

In a video message released by his office after meeting executives from small and medium-sized companies at his residence, Lai said given Taiwan's dependence on trade the economy would inevitably have a hard time dealing with the tariffs, but that he thought the impact could be minimised.

"Tariff negotiations can start with 'zero tariffs' between Taiwan and the United States, with reference to the U.S.-Canada-Mexico free trade agreement," Lai said.

***India and Vietnam have offered the same deal as well. Indonesia and Singapore have announced they won't be retaliating either.

Guys, be careful when something looks too obvious in the market. There’s a ton of people loading up on puts this week, betting on a crash, but that could be a setup for manipulation. How does it work? Easy: the big players (banks, funds, etc.) know where the crowd’s pain points are like a bunch of puts waiting for a drop. So, they might push a massive gap up, pump the price for a few days, burn those puts (making them worthless), and then crash it hard afterward. It’s not a conspiracy, it’s just the game: they move the price to where their wallets win. Stay sharp, ‘cause when everyone’s betting on the same side, the market loves flipping the table.

A myriad of warnings, this must one of them, all over the news, blogs, social media about the economic damage tariffs will cause and still the “HODL, DCA, Lump Sum” crowd insist if you went to cash you were gambling, you were lucky, you took a wild guess, you must think you know more than the analysts. One guy said to me that I must think I’m the Oracle of Omaha for going into cash. I’m actually pissed at myself for leaving 10% of my positions behind. You didn’t have to be a genius to see where this was going. If it took a genius then so many would not be selling and the sellers would not be outnumbering the buyers. Which side of the equasiin are you on?

https://fortune.com/2025/04/04/bill-gross-bonds-warns-investors-stock-market-verizon-altria-cash/?utm_source=salesforce&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fortune-500-digest&tpcc=NL_Marketing

For 100 years or so we have lived in a world in which the USA is the strongest economy in the world and sets the tone. I am new to world of investments and stocks, my father is teaching me the basics and as of right now making most of the transactions in my portfolio. He has in my opinion a blind faith in the us economy and it's strength. but in light of the recent actions taken by Trump and their devastating affects on the markets I am forced to rethink. I know that the US economy is arguably stronger than all of the EU combined and most of Asia. With all that said there is still a question that I can't stop thinking about:

how likely is all that to change? Because if Trump will continue in his current course of trade wars things won't get better!

what to do right now? Keep investing in the US market or go to Europe.

For some context I am 22 years old, have a modest portfolio meant for long term investments which as of now consisting of: IVV, GRNY, S&P 500 Equal Weight, S&P 500 Financials Sector and NASDAQ.

Would love to here your opinions as I am sure I am not the only one who thought about that in the last few weeks.

So the time is upon us. The reckoning. And the question is, what are peoples' thoughts on a possible Black Monday tomorrow?

On a positive note, unlike 1987, where there were no circuit breakers in place, we now have circuit breakers to minimize the harm.

There are 2 conflicting historical statistics regarding the odds of another Black Monday:

1) 80% of the 3rd day after two consecutive -4.5% losses on the S & P, the S & P went positive at an average of about 3%.

2) 95% of the time SPY drops more than 1.5% on a Friday, SPY finishes lower the following Monday.