Donald Trump says ‘Tariff-hit countries dying to make a deal’

President Donald Trump speaks at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) dinner at the National Building Museum in Washington on April 8, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. President Donald Trump mocked tariff-hit nations on Tuesday (April 8, 2025), stating that they were ready to do anything while trying to negotiate with him.

While speaking at the National Republican Congressional Committee, Mr. Trump said he was a better negotiator than the Congress.

He said, “I’m telling you — these countries are calling us up, kissing my ***. They are dying to make a deal — ‘please sir make a deal, I’ll do anything, I’ll do anything sir.’

He added that although some ‘rebel’ Republicans argue that he must allow the Congress to make a deal, he believed that if that were the case, China wouldn’t have been slapped with 104 % tariffs, and vice versa. “I’ll see some rebel Republicans that want to grandstand say, ‘I think that Congress should take over negotiations.’ Let me tell you, you don’t negotiate like I negotiate,” he said.

He added that Congress’s negotiations would sell America. “Congress takes over negotiating to sell America fast because you’re going to go busted. I just saw it today. A couple of your congressmen said, ‘I think we should get involved in the negotiation of the tariffs’,” he mocked.

Mr. Trump said that the Congress’s negotiations would make China the happiest, as China would not have to pay any tariffs; the U.S. would pay them instead! “Oh, that’s what I need — I need some guy telling me how to negotiate. I tell you, the happiest people in the world would be Chinese. They wouldn’t be paying 104%. I tell, they’d be paying no per cent [instead] we’d be paying them 104%,” he said.

Mr. Trump also said that he would announce major tariffs on the pharma sector soon. “Tariffs on pharma will be there because we don’t make our own pharma drugs; they are made in another country. The same packet in the U.S. is priced at $10 or more. We are going to tariff pharma in such a way that companies will come rushing to us very soon. The advantage we have is, we are very big market. Very shortly, will announce a major tariff on pharma, and when these companies hear that, they will leave China and other countries because most of their products are sold here. And, they will be opening their plants here,” Mr. Trump said.