WASHINGTON/TAIPEI/VERONA: More than 50 nations have reached out to the White House to begin trade talks since US President Donald Trump rolled out sweeping new tariffs, top officials said on Sunday ( Apr 6 ) as they defended , levies , that , wiped out , nearly US$ 6 trillion in value from US stocks last week and downplayed economic fallout.
On Sunday day speak shows, Trump’s top financial experts sought to present the taxes as a shrewd repositioning of the US in the world trade order. They also tried to minimize the financial shocks from last week’s stormy implementation, ahead of Monday ‘s , expected slippery opening , of Eastern stock markets.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said more than 50 countries had started conversations with the US since last Wednesday’s news, putting Trump in a position of strength.
Neither Bessent nor the other leaders named the states or offered information about the deals.  , But instantly negotiating with many countries could present a operational challenge for the Trump administration and limit financial uncertainty.
” He’s created maximum liquidity for himself”, Bessent said on NBC News ‘ ‘ Meet the Press.’
Bessent downplayed the stock market drop and said there was” no reason” to anticipate a recession based on the tariffs, citing , stronger-than-anticipated , US jobs growth.
Trump jolted markets around the world after he announced large taxes on US goods, triggering punitive taxes from China and initiating fears of a global trade war and crisis.
Bank economists now estimate the tariffs may effect in , full-year , US gross , domestic goods declining by 0.3 pct, down from an earlier estimate of 1.3 percent growth, and that the unemployment rate may climb to 5.3 percent from 4.2 percent today.