JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
It's been another chaotic day in stock markets as the world tries to game out the impact of President Trump's tariffs. White House officials say they've been getting a lot of calls from world leaders about them.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We have many, many countries that are coming to negotiate deals with us, and they're going to be fair deals, and in certain cases they're going to be paying substantial tariffs. They'll be fair deals. As you know, I spoke this morning with the prime minister of Japan, and we had a very good conversation.
SUMMERS: And today, President Trump met with one world leader in person - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez was in the Oval Office for part of that meeting and joins me now. Hi, Franco.
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: Hey, Juana.
SUMMERS: So Franco, tell us, what did the two leaders talk about in terms of tariffs?
ORDOÑEZ: Well, Netanyahu in the beginning promised to eliminate trade deficits with the U.S. as well as trade barriers. You know, on the big list of tariffed countries, Trump actually imposed a 17% tariff on Israel that Netanyahu made very clear that he wants to address. And Trump used the prime minister's proposal to cut trade barriers as an example of how the U.S. is forcing countries to come to the table and try to negotiate. Now, Trump would not say, however, whether he would lower the tariffs on Israel, but he did kind of tease a new trade arrangement.
Trump also used the opportunity to attack others that he said have been unfair to the U.S., such as the European Union. He said an offer by the EU to cut tariffs against the U.S. on autos and other industrial goods was just not good enough. He very pointedly said that the EU needs to do much more, and he said a key thing that they need to do is buy U.S. energy.
SUMMERS: Tell us who else President Trump's been talking to today.
ORDOÑEZ: Well, as you noted earlier, President Trump also spoke to Japan's prime minister today, and his Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said it was a constructive conversation. The administration is planning to put a 24% tariff on Japanese auto parts and other goods from the country. Bessent said on social media that he and the U.S. trade representative would open talks with their Japanese counterparts on trade barriers and currency issues. Trump said that talks are going well, and here's how he described it.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: We are making tremendous progress with a lot of countries, and countries that really took advantage of us are now saying, please negotiate. You know why? Because they're getting beaten badly because of what's happening. They're getting beaten badly. They're being devalued as countries.
ORDOÑEZ: Now, Juana, this follows similar conversations over the weekend with Vietnam, which Trump plans to impose a 46% tariff. The U.S. is the biggest market for Vietnam goods. A big chunk, for example, of Nike gear comes from Vietnam. And Vietnam is very eager to delay the start of the tariffs with these talks.
SUMMERS: And Franco, the market is just in turmoil. How's the president reacting to that?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah, he nodded to some of that turmoil and the political risk that he's taking on as he pursues his vision, but he insists that the U.S. only has one shot to do this.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: Nobody but me would do this. You know, it's - would be nice to serve a nice, easy term, but we have an opportunity to change the fabric of our country. We have an opportunity to reset the table on trade.
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah, he's not backing down. He's actually doubling down. You know, he threatened to go even harder on China after China threatened to retaliate with more tariffs against the U.S. At the same time, he's also trying to downplay the economic impacts in the U.S., touting lower oil prices and lower interest rates.
SUMMERS: I want to go back, if we can, to today's meeting for a second. On any other day, a meeting between these two leaders would be making headlines because of talks on the war in Gaza. Tell us what they said about that today.
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah, it's a big deal. I mean, last time they met, Trump proposed moving Palestinians out of Gaza and turning it into a kind of riviera kind of property. He repeated some of that today, saying it would be good if the U.S. had control of the Gaza Strip. I'll tell you, I watched as Netanyahu kind of turned his head to look at his aides as Trump was talking about this.
Trump also made some news when it came to Iran. He said that the U.S. would have direct talks with Iran aimed at curbing its nuclear ambitions starting this weekend on Saturday. Trump wouldn't say where those talks would be or how they would be involved, but that is something we'll be watching very closely.
SUMMERS: NPR's Franco Ordoñez at the White House. Thank you, Franco.
ORDOÑEZ: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
