‘Do Not Retaliate’: Trump Official Puts 180 Nations on Notice, Then Gives Ominous Warning

[Conservative Angle]

​

Immediately following President Trump’s unveiling of his ‘Reciprocal Tariff’ plan, the mainstream media went into their expected frenzy.

The 25% tariff imposed on foreign made cars and the 10% bottom line across the board to match all US trade partners on the tariffs they charge on US goods has the American media in more of a frenzy than the leaders of those nations!

Reporters and news anchors started asking “what if” questions — what if countries push back? What if they retaliate?

One person they attempted to pin down was President Trump’s Treasury Secretary, though it seemed as if most of the press just wanted to get him to validate their own views.

And he wasn’t biting.

Scott Bessent gave a number of interviews yesterday immediately following the Rose Garden event, and every time he was asked what would happen if countries retaliated, he gave the same basic answer — “Do not retaliate”.

He highlighted the silver lining in President Trump’s plan, but he also gave an ominous warning to those 180+ nations what would happen if they tried to strike back in retaliation.

In one quick comment to Bloomberg, Bessent specified his basic warning not to retaliate:

In that clip, you heard Bessent point to what I’m calling the ‘silver lining’ which the Trump Administration is urging US trade partners to focus on in his plan.

The numbers President Trump has set for the tariffs against each country can basically be considered the “high end of the number”, meaning there’s room for those tariffs to come down — if a country doesn’t attempt to retaliate.

Bessent reiterated his non-retaliation warning in comments with Fox News’ Brett Baier, but included his ominous warning about what would happen if a nation did retaliate:

BREAKING

Secretary Bessent’s has a message for countries hit with reciprocal tariffs:

“Do not retaliate. If you do, there will be escalation”

AMERICA IS OFFICIALLY BACK

pic.twitter.com/h4Mfp2SRii

— MAGA Voice (@MAGAVoice) April 2, 2025

As for the U.S. situation, Bessent argues that President Trump’s tariff plan is setting the stage for economic growth by jumping off of a trajectory that led to the big downturns of the last few decades.

But to those nations who might not be quick to look on the bright side of President Trump’s kindhearted version of ‘reciprocal tariffs’, Bessent was very clear.

That “high water mark” could turn out to just be the starting point for a full-fledged escalation, if there is retaliation.

Besides advising countries not to panic, he strongly cautioned US trading partners to avoid escalation by avoiding a knee-jerk retaliatory strike against the United States in response, according to Fox News:

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered a three-word reply on Wednesday to countries looking to respond to the United States’ broad tariffs: “Do not retaliate.”

President Donald Trump announced on his self-proclaimed “Liberation Day” a 10% baseline tariff across the board and retaliatory tariffs on some of the country’s closest allies, who he says are taking advantage of the U.S.

“My advice to every country right now is do not retaliate. Sit back, take it in, let’s see how it goes. Because if you retaliate, there will be escalation,” Bessent said Wednesday in an interview on “Special Report” shortly after the announcement. “If you don’t retaliate, this is the high-water mark.”

The White House announced that the 10% baseline tariff will go into effect on Saturday and the individual, reciprocal tariffs will go into effect on April 9.

“These tariffs will remain in effect until such a time as President Trump determines that the threat posed by the trade deficit and underlying nonreciprocal treatment is satisfied, resolved, or mitigated,” read a release from the Trump administration in part.

Bessent told Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier that the goal of the tariffs is to set the stage for long-term economic growth.

“We are putting ourselves back onto a sound trajectory,” he said, hitting the Biden administration for “gigantic” government spending.

The Treasury secretary added that Congress is working to pass a tax bill as the administration seeks to make the Trump 2017 tax cuts permanent.

“The sooner we can get certainty on tax, the sooner we can set the stage for the growth to resume,” said Bessent.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins attempted to lay a trap for Bessent during her questioning on the White House lawn.

She hit the Treasury Secretary with a set up, apparently expecting him to have less grasp of the facts.

To say she underestimated Bessent’s working knowledge of the NUMBERS and the FACTS of President Trump’s plan would be an understatement to be sure!

Maybe four years of the Biden lackeys caused her to forget what it’s like to interview COMPETENT people who actually know their job?

Here’s Bessent shutting Kaitlan Collins down like the political hack she is:

Scott Bessent runs circles around Kaitlan Collins on tariffs:

KAITLAN: "What would you say to people in the auto industry worried."

SCOTT: "Buy American."

KAITLAN: "What about used cars being made using foreign parts?"

SCOTT: "The USMCA is exempt."
pic.twitter.com/OXeyGS3y3h

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 3, 2025

The Treasury Secretary posted to his X account yesterday as soon as President Trump signed the Executive Order, making his tariff plan official.

Bessent touted the “historic actions” as setting right a decades-old status quo that hurt Americans.

Here’s that post, announcing a “new age of economic strength”:

President Trump signed the Declaration of Economic Independence for the American people.

For decades, the trade status quo has allowed countries to leverage tariffs and unfair trade practices to get ahead at the expense of hardworking Americans.

The President’s historic actions…

— Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) April 2, 2025

President Trump’s baseline 10% tariff applied to virtually all U.S. trading partners goes into effect at midnight on Saturday, April 9th.

But the larger automobile tariffs slapped on to those nations whose trade imbalances with the US are more grievous went into effect immediately last night.

Bessent gave a slightly reworded, though equally tough take on his warning last night, telling CNN that “Doing anything rash would be unwise”, according to a report on Unilad:

As of midnight last night, a 25 percent tariff has been slapped on all foreign-made automobiles. Trump has slammed countries such as Thailand for charging ‘higher prices like 60 percent,’ India charging ’70 percent,’ Vietnam ’75 percent’, and ‘others even higher than that’ when the US used to only charge 2.5 percent.

As for other goods, Trump revealed a baseline 10 percent tariff which will be applied to all countries as of Saturday (April 9) at 12.01am ET – except those compliant with the USMCA free trade agreement between Mexico, Canada and the United States.

Non-compliant countries will be charged at a 25 percent rate, while UK imports have a 10 percent tariff and EU goods will have a 20 percent tariff.

And should countries even think about counter tariffs? Well, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned against them ‘doing anything rash’.

Bessent uttered a six-word warning to America’s trading partners, telling CNN: “Doing anything rash would be unwise.”

He continued: “Sit back, take a deep breath, don’t immediately retaliate. Let’s see where this goes, because if you retaliate, that’s how we get escalation.”

Trump slammed ‘both friend and foe alike’ of having ‘looted, pillaged, raped and plundered’ the US.

He said American steelworkers, autoworkers, farmers and skilled craftsmen are among the workers who’ve been ‘ripped off for more than 50 years’ and the country once had an ‘American dream that you don’t hear so much about’.

Ultimately he resolved: “They do it so us, and we do it to them. Doesn’t get much simpler than that.”

Various nations have already expressed their displeasure with the President’s plan.

But Bessent’s advice is likely to be taken by most, if not all.

The ability to stand up under the weight of their goods being taxed to the levels that have been placed on American goods for decades just isn’t there.

And I suspect they all know that President Trump isn’t bluffing.

When his Treasury Secretary says point blank that any retaliation will be met with escalation from the US, by this time foreign leaders know they can take that to the bank, so to speak.

If cooler heads prevail — unlike what is happening in Canada — there will be a few rounds of negotiations in time, and those tariff numbers will likely be adjusted based on new and fair trade agreements.

But it doesn’t seem obvious that the President is ready to negotiate immediately, at least not across the board.

President Trump’s plan is intended first and foremost to put the United States back on a trajectory of growth, and increased economic stability, by alleviating the enormous trade disparity that has existed for decades.

That isn’t going to change over night, and President Trump didn’t make this hard call just to back away from these numbers immediately.

Bessent’s cautionary words ring in my ears as I type: “Sit back, take a deep breath, don’t immediately retaliate. Let’s see where this goes…”

While I suspect part of this is to force renegotiated trade deals, that doesn’t sound like an immediate invitation for trade talks, either.

These tariffs are designed to bring in a lot of cash flow, and President Trump isn’t likely to shut off that spigot just after he’s turned it on.

The post <a href=https://wltreport.com/2025/04/03/do-not-retaliate-trump-official-puts-180-nations/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=do-not-retaliate-trump-official-puts-180-nations target=_blank >‘Do Not Retaliate’: Trump Official Puts 180 Nations on Notice, Then Gives Ominous Warning</a> appeared first on Conservative Angle | Conservative Angle - Conservative News Clearing House

Continue reading...