By coinnews 
00:00 Speaker A
Well, President Trump telling reporters today the US is very close to a tariff deal with Japan. He also told Time Magazine, “Tariff deals should be wrapped up in the next three to four weeks,” and that the US is negotiation, negotiating with China. That comes even as China has denied the talks are happening. When pressed on the timing of the talks with President Xi Jinping, Trump didn’t want to say too much.
00:24 Speaker B
You said you spoke with President Xi. Have you spoken to him since the tariffs? When did you last speak?
00:30 Donald Trump
I don’t want to, I don’t want to comment on that. But I’ve spoken to him many times.
00:38 Speaker A
Here with more analysis, Yahoo Finance senior columnist Rick Newman. And, and Rick, as you know, the president does tend to get more specific when he actually has had a conversation. What are you reading from this back and forth on whether or not there has been a conversation with Beijing?
00:53 Rick Newman
I think I’m as skeptical as you sound, Matty. Um so that sounded pretty evasive by Trump. And it sounded evasive in his interview with Time uh that was published earlier today. Uh it’s, you know, he, when he makes these broad statements, uh he could, he could be referring to a conversation with Xi Jinping that he had in 2019. Um yes, I’ve spoken with Xi. I think he did speak with Xi Jinping right after uh he took office the second time. That could be what he’s referring to, having nothing to do with tariffs. So uh, you know, all the latest signals are more of the usual. I mean, it sounds like a lot of bluster from Trump. He has backed himself into a corner in a way where he’s basically laid down this red line and said all these horrendous tariffs, which basically mean we’re not even going to get imports from China and from some other countries. These are all in place and now all you trade partners, you have to now line up and come to me and offer uh to make some kind of deal. And uh, I think as you’ve been pointing out, China is giving a totally different message. We’re not, we’re not lined up to go bend the knee to Trump in Washington D.C. So, um honestly, I think it’s just more confusion. I, I don’t see anything that clarifies what’s happening here at all.
02:23 Speaker A
So Rick, where do you think this is heading? I mean, according to, I know you read all of the research. You’re obviously talking to people about this all the time. How much faith do you think there is out there that all this talk about, you know, triple-digit tariffs being bad, from members of the administration is going to lead to a policy change?
02:42 Rick Newman
We’re going to end up with higher tariffs. I mean, the question is, do we get to a regime of higher taxes on imports in an orderly way or uh in a disorderly way? And you know, we’re right on the cusp uh right now, since uh April 2nd, liberation day, which some people call ruination day. Um we’re right on the cusp between order and disorder, and Trump is playing this, you know, very dangerous game with markets. Um I have no idea if it’s going to end up orderly or disorderly. But it is going to, we’re going to have higher taxes on imports. We’re going to have higher costs on American businesses and consumers. We’re going to have higher inflation than we would otherwise have. And we’re going to have higher interest rates than we would otherwise have, and slower growth. I don’t know if it’s going to be a recession, but we’re going to have a less vital economic uh situation than we had before these tariffs. And um, you know, just to go back to Trump’s Time interview, the whole, his whole policy is based on a fallacy, which is that our trade deficit means that other countries are taking money from us, which is not what trade is. But Trump is just, I mean he’s just a true believer in this, so we’re going to have to suffer through it.
04:28 Speaker A
Mhm. Rick, thank you so much. Great overview as always. Appreciate it. Have a great weekend.
04:33 Rick Newman
See you, Matty.