00:00I'm telling you, these countries are calling us up, kissing my ***. They are dying to make a deal. Please, please, sir, make a deal. I'll do anything. I'll do anything, sir.
00:12U.S. President Donald Trump, who did not make any mention of any part of the world by name, as seen in this video from the UK Times and the Sunday Times, as he spoke of his new reciprocal tariffs during an event in Washington, D.C.
00:25Those new tariffs are on exports from most countries to the U.S., including from Trinidad and Tobago, which received a 10% reciprocal tariff.
00:34A few hours earlier, during a media conference at Whitehall in Port of Spain on Tuesday, Prime Minister Stuart Young said with regard to the 10% tariff on Trinidad and Tobago that LNG and petroleum exports produced locally, quote, don't fall into that basket, end quote.
00:51He added that the government is studying what other products may be affected.
00:57The Minister of Trade has had her meetings with the United States and has made the requisite request for meetings with her counterparts in the United States government to have discussions.
01:07But as was told to me today by the United States Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago, every country in the world that has tariffs applied to them in the manner that they have been is trying to get engaged in those types of conversations.
01:22So there seems to be a lot of unsettling times in Washington, D.C. with respect to these tariffs.
01:29However, in a surprise announcement on Wednesday, U.S. President Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that, quote,
01:38Based on the fact that more than 75 countries have called representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and the USTR, to negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed relative to trade, trade barriers, tariffs, currency manipulation, and non-monetary tariffs,
01:57and that these countries have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States, I have authorized a 90-day pause and a substantially lowered reciprocal tariff during this period of 10%, also effective immediately, end quote.
02:18President Trump announced the only exception to the 90-day pause is China, which has been levied with a 125% reciprocal tariff, effective immediately.
02:30TV6 News did not receive a response to the questions we sent to Prime Minister Young on Wednesday, seeking a comment from him about this new development with regard to the U.S. reciprocal tariffs.
02:43Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
02:48Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
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