President Donald Trump revealed for the first time on Thursday that the United States is in talks with China on a tariff deal. Trump said a deal could be reached in the next three to four weeks.
Earlier Thursday, Trump met with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni at the White House amid a tariff standoff with the European Union. The talks came a day after Trump met with Japanese officials and spoke with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Meanwhile, Trump is criticizing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, saying his "termination cannot come fast enough" after Powell said he expects Trump's tariff policy to cause higher inflation and slower economic growth.
Trump praises Nvidia for promising new US production
President Donald Trump reacted on social media to Nvidia's Monday announcement that it would commit to building its artificial intelligence supercomputers entirely in the United States, calling the move "very big" and "exciting."
President Donald Trump speaks as he meets with President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador in the Oval Office of the White House, April 14, 2025 in Washington.
Ken Cedeno/Pool/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The chip company promised to produce $500 billion of AI infrastructure in Texas over the next four years.
"All necessary permits will be expedited and quickly delivered to NVIDIA, as they will to all companies committing to be part of the Golden Age of America!" Trump claimed.
-ABC News' Kelsey Walsh
Apr 15, 2025, 6:31 AM EDT
'Good chance' of US-UK trade deal, Vance reportedly says
Vice President J.D. Vance reportedly said the U.S. and U.K. are currently "working very hard" on a trade deal and that there's a "good chance" the two sides will come to an agreement.
"The president really loves the United Kingdom. He loved the queen. He admires and loves the king. It is a very important relationship. And he's a businessman and has a number of important business relationships in an interview with UnHerd, a British news and opinion website, published on Tuesday.
Vance did not say how soon a deal could be reached with the U.K., but suggested it may be easier to reach one than with other European allies.
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance walk, after meeting with the Ohio State University 2025 College Football National Champions, at the White House, in Washington, D.C., April 14, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
"With the United Kingdom, we have a much more reciprocal relationship than we have with, say, Germany… While we love the Germans, they are heavily dependent on exporting to the United States but are pretty tough on a lot of American businesses that would like to export into Germany," he said.
"Fairness" is at the center of working out deals, according to Vance, who said it will "lead to a lot of positive trade relationships with Europe."
"We very much see Europe as our ally," he told UnHerd. "We just want it to be an alliance where Europeans are a little more independent, and our security and trade relationships are gonna reflect that."
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance walk to welcome the Ohio State University 2025 College Football National Champions, at the White House, in Washington, D.C., April 14, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
And after stocks across the globe plunged in the wake of Trump's tariffs announcement, Vance said in the interview that "any implementation of a new system is fundamentally going to make financial markets jittery."
"No plan is, you know, going to be implemented perfectly," he said, adding, "We're very cognisant of the fact that we live in a complicated world where nobody else's decisions are static. But the fundamental policy is to rebalance global trade, and I think the President has been very clear and persistent on that."
The Trump administration has a meeting scheduled with Japanese officials on Wednesday and a meeting with South Korea next week.
-ABC News' Justin Gomez
Apr 14, 2025, 8:02 PM EDT
’Unprecedented power grab’: Small businesses sue over Trump's tariffs
The national emergency Trump used to justify his sweeping tariffs is a “figment of his own imagination,” argued a group of small businesses that urged a federal court to declare the tariffs unlawful.
In a lawsuit filed Monday in the Court of International Trade in New York, the group of businesses alleged that the law used to invoke the tariffs -- the International Emergency Economic Powers Act -- does not empower Trump to unilaterally impose tariffs.
“The President of the United States claims the authority to unilaterally levy tariffs on goods imported from any and every country in the world, at any rate, calculated via any methodology—or mere caprice—immediately, with no notice, or public comment, or phase-in, or delay in implementation, despite massive economic impacts that are likely to do severe damage to the global economy,” the lawsuit said.
While Trump cited the country’s trade deficits to justify the tariffs, the lawsuit argued that the longstanding trade deficits between the U.S. and its trading partners is not an “unusual and extraordinary threat” needed to declare an emergency.
President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, April 2, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
“This Court should declare the President’s unprecedented power grab illegal, enjoin the operation of the executive actions that purport to impose these tariffs under the IEEPA, and reaffirm this country’s core founding principle: there shall be no taxation without representation,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit was filed in a New York-based federal court that adjudicates trade laws and brought by five small businesses, including a New York liquor distributor, a Utah-based plastic pipe company, a Virginia-based educational equipment company, a Pennsylvania fishing and tackle outfitter, and a Vermont-based brand of cycling apparel.
The lawsuit marks the second case to challenge Trump’s tariff and the first to specifically call into question the sweeping measures imposed on what Trump called “Liberation Day” earlier this month.
-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous and Katherine Faulders
Apr 14, 2025, 7:05 PM EDT
White House moves toward pharmaceutical and semiconductor tariffs
The White House is taking steps to move towards implementing new tariffs on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, as Trump said earlier.
Copies of federal notices put online Monday show that the Department of Commerce initiated a public comment period for two Section 232 investigations of pharmaceutical and semiconductor-related products, including the machines used to make chips, and ingredients used for pharmaceutical production.
According to the notices, the investigation began on April 1.
President Donald Trump speaks as he meets with President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador in the Oval Office of the White House, April 14, 2025 in Washington.
Ken Cedeno/Pool/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The investigation itself does not implement tariffs, but could signal President Trump will move forward with new tariffs.
Trump has used Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 previously to implement tariffs on steel and aluminum imports as well.