President Trump: ”Reciprocal tariffs, flexibility but reciprocity”

US President Donald Trump said that the US government has flexibility regarding the reciprocal tariffs that are scheduled to be announced on April 2. However, the basic rule is
He reiterated his intention to impose tariffs on the basis of reciprocity. Meeting with reporters at the White House on the 21st (local time), he said, "A lot of people are asking whether there are any exceptions to the tariffs.
"But if you exempt one person, you have to exempt everyone," he said. "I won't change. But flexibility is an important word," he said, adding, "Sometimes flexibility is necessary.
"So while we have flexibility, we are basically on the basis of reciprocity," he said. This means that if the other country lowers its tariffs and non-tariff barriers, we can take this into account and adjust the level of tariffs to some extent.
President Trump also said he plans to call Chinese President Xi Jinping on the same day. Previously, China had responded to President Trump's sweeping tariffs by threatening to impose tariffs on the United States.
"I'm going to talk to President Xi Jinping," Trump said in response to a question about whether China could do anything to avoid a trade war with the United States.
"His relationship with me is very good," he said, but added, "But China has a huge (trade) surplus with the United States and we don't want that."