In April this year, U.S. President Trump announced the implementation of "reciprocal tariffs" on multiple countries globally, originally scheduled to take effect on July 9th, but later postponed to August 1st to extend negotiation time.
However, as the deadline approaches, the U.S. has only reached trade agreements with a few countries, including the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, and Japan. Meanwhile, negotiations with major economies like the EU and Canada remain unresolved.
Trump Loosens Up: Tariffs Can Be Reduced
Against this background, on the evening of July 23rd, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, stating he is willing to lower tariff rates, provided that major countries open their markets to the U.S.:
"If I can get major countries to open their markets to the U.S., I will always be willing to lower tariff points. This is another great power of tariffs. Without tariffs, it would be impossible to get countries to open their markets! Always zero tariffs for the U.S.!"
Subsequently, Trump issued another threat, saying that if markets are not opened to the U.S., other countries will face even higher tariffs:
"I will only lower tariffs if a country agrees to open its market. If not, tariffs will be significantly raised! Japan's market is now open (for the first time ever!). U.S. businesses will thrive!"
Trump's Goal is to Reach an Agreement
Currently, the U.S. has reached trade agreements with the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, and Japan, but negotiations with major economies like China and the EU are ongoing. Experts analyze that by releasing such threatening remarks at this time, Trump has intensified trade negotiation tensions, but undoubtedly also signaled that he actually hopes to reach tariff agreements with various countries, with the previously escalating tax rates serving as negotiation leverage to intimidate counterparts.
Bitcoin Drops Below $118,000, Ethereum Holds at $3,600
Notably, after Trump's threatening remarks, the cryptocurrency market responded with a downturn. At the time of writing, Bitcoin briefly rebounded after dropping below $118,000, currently trading at $119,038, with a 24-hour decline of 0.51%; Ethereum's decline was more severe, dropping to $3,552 this morning, with a 24-hour decline of 2.62%.
Among the top ten cryptocurrencies, only BNB remained relatively stable, while XRP, ADA, and SOL were all pulled down, with the highest decline reaching 8.96%.
