AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Economic officials from the U.S. and China are meeting this weekend in Geneva, Switzerland, after weeks of tension brought on by President Donald Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods and China's levies on U.S. goods in response. In a few minutes, how far China might be willing to go to de-escalate the trade war. But first, NPR's senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson joins us now. Good morning, Mara, and happy Mother's Day.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha. Happy Mother's Day to you.
RASCOE: Thank you. So I want to start with the word confusion because when it comes to what President Trump wants regarding tariffs, the message is confusing and seems to be all over the place. He raised tariffs on China to 145% about a month ago, around the same time he paused his so-called reciprocal tariffs for other countries. Then, as Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent was gearing up for Geneva, Trump wrote on Truth Social, 80% tariff on China seems right. Up to Scott B. But is it? Like, you know, and why is now - and why is the president now suggesting 80%?
LIASSON: Well, those are a lot of good questions. You know, Trump's pattern has been to put a high tariff on and then back off. And it seemed as though when he posted that, quote, "80% tariff on China seems about right," he was following that pattern with the president essentially negotiating with himself, putting a high tariff on, backing off, even though he wasn't getting any concessions from the other side, in this case, China. But press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the 80% was not a new tariff limit on China, but just something that Trump was, quote, "throwing out there," and that any reduction in a tariff on China would have to come as part of negotiations. So still very unclear.
RASCOE: So this is coming after a trade deal or, you know, basically a framework for a trade deal with the U.K. How much of a victory is that for the president?
LIASSON: Well, I think the markets think any kind of a deal is a victory, but you're right, it's a framework. It's not a finished deal. And the U.K. is different than other countries. It's not clear whether this deal will be a model for other trade deals because we have a surplus with the U.K., not a deficit. And, of course, the president is still keeping 10% tariffs on the U.K. And there's a new poll out from Politico and Public First that indicates while a big majority of Americans and Brits support this deal, less than a third of British respondents and less than half of American respondents trust Trump to stick to it. So it looks like the president's own unpredictability is still a very big factor in these trade wars.
RASCOE: Did we learn anything about MAGA foreign policy last week?
LIASSON: Well, I guess we learned that it's not as isolationist as some people think it was. The president said that the U.S. negotiated a, quote, "full and immediate ceasefire" between India and Pakistan, although both sides have now accused the other of violating it.
RASCOE: Well, you know, the president has also sent mixed messages to lawmakers who are working on that big, beautiful bill. One element of it is keeping the 2017 tax cuts, but Trump said last week he'd be open to raising taxes on the rich. I mean, that's a big statement from a Republican.
LIASSON: Yep, that certainly violates decades of Republican policy on tax hikes. But the reason they are even talking about raising taxes on the rich is because they're having so much trouble finding enough spending cuts to pay for all those big, beautiful tax cuts that the president wants. On Friday, the president posted that he'd graciously accept a, quote, "tiny" tax increase on the rich. And he said Republicans should probably not do it, but that he'd be OK if they did. Very confusing. The other thing that Republicans are looking at to raise some money is to raise the - is to lower the deduction of how much state and local taxes high-income earners can take in high-tax states. Translation - blue states.
When Trump passed his first tax cut bill in his first term, he limited the amount of deductions that high earners could take in blue states. It was kind of an own the libs fiscal policy. Republicans thought they could force blue states to lower taxes, but now it's become a huge obstacle in the House. Republicans from high-tax states like New York and New Jersey are revolting, saying they won't vote for the tax bill unless this is changed.
RASCOE: That's NPR's senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Thank you, Mara.
LIASSON: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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