Trump says tariffs may pose transition problems but levies will eventually be a beautiful thing

WASHINGTON — President Trump acknowledged Thursday there may be “transition problems” in the economy due to his tariff package — but insisted the duties would turn out to be a “beautiful thing.”“There’ll be a transition cost and transition problems, but in the end, it’s going to be, it’s going to be a beautiful thing.We’re doing again, what we should have done many years ago,” Trump told reporters during a cabinet meeting.

“There’ll always be transition difficulty.”The president postponed his global reciprocal tariff package for 90 days on Wednesday, save for a universal 10% rate on most imports and a 125% duty on China — which the White House clarified Thursday could rise as high as 145%.That realization led the market to a fifth losing trading day in the six since the president’s “Liberation Day” announcement, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing down 2.5%, the S&P 500 dropping almost 3.5% and the Nasdaq closing down 4.3%.“We’ll see what happens with China,” Trump told reporters Thursday.“We would love to be able to work a deal.

They’ve really taken advantage of our country for a long period of time.They’ve ripped us off beyond anybody.”The president also shrugged off news that Beijing was reducing the number of US-made films it would import, quipping: “I think I’ve heard of worse things.”The administration now has until July 8 to work out one-for-one trade deals with the more than 75 countries that have contacted the White House.“I thought people were jumping a little bit out of line, they were getting yippy, you know, they were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday to explain his pause.“Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about it.

I think it came together early this morning — fairly early this morning.Just wrote it up.

We didn’t have access to lawyers.We wrote it up from our hearts.”Sources close to the White House told ...