There’s room to negotiate US tariffs based on how different countries respond, former Deputy Director of the National Economic Council Everett Eissenstat says.
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00:00Okay, so what's the idea here? I mean, what was President Trump trying to achieve? Is this one of
00:04his, let's throw it out there, you know, a bit of a grenade that causes a lot of panic and general
00:12excitement and newspaper headlines that then starts a conversation that leads to a deal? And
00:18if that is indeed the scenario, what is the deal? What is the end game? So it's a great question,
00:22but let's put in context what these tariffs that just went into effect are. These are on top of
00:27steel and aluminum tariffs that were announced quite, you know, that were expanded just recently.
00:34These are related to autos, and that's one reason why Germany may be so concerned,
00:39because some of their automakers are going to be the most exposed. What you're talking about
00:44here is one set of tariffs directed towards autos. It's based on a 232 national security statute.
00:51The President has said come April 2nd, what he calls Liberation Day, there will be additional
00:55tariffs. So we're just beginning this conversation. This is not the end of it,
01:00and even if there were a settlement of the auto tariffs, it'd still be the other tariffs coming
01:04down the pike here in early April. But yes, fundamentally to your question, the answer is yes.
01:10I think there is room for a discussion. I think there is room for a negotiation,
01:15and different countries are taking different tacks to do that. We're seeing the United Kingdom
01:19respond in one way, and as you said, Germany may respond in another. That's going to be very fact
01:23dependent upon which country and how they react, and candidly, whether they're able to
01:30enter into a good conversation with the administration on settlement of these trade issues.