When President Trump talks about making trade deals with other countries, the rules about tariffs become harder to understand.

Trump stated that the US is not required to sign agreements and could sign many quickly. He is seeking fair agreements for everyone and is not worried about markets in other countries. He mentioned that his team could negotiate a deal, or he might decide to put taxes on goods by himself.

"I am finding it difficult to understand," wrote Chad Bown, who works at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, in an email.

Trump's team says his book "The Art of the Deal" shows he has a good plan, but many people around the world are very worried. This has made the stock market unstable, companies stop hiring, and caused general uncertainty, even though Trump keeps promising new factories and jobs will come soon.

In any agreement, Trump wants to keep some of his tariffs. He thinks these import taxes could make a lot of money for the government, which owes a lot, even though other countries want to remove tariffs in a deal.

Trump recently said about tariffs, "They are good for us. If we use them and are successful, we will become very rich. We will pay off debt and lower your taxes a lot because we will earn so much money. This will allow us to lower your taxes even more than the tax cut you will receive."

The U.S. government has collected $45.9 billion from taxes on imported goods this year. This is about $14.5 billion more than last year. This amount of money could rise a lot. This is because of the 10% tax on most goods, the very high 145% tax on Chinese goods, and taxes up to 25% on steel, aluminum, cars, and goods from Mexico and Canada.

For Trump to reach his goals of paying off the $36 trillion debt and lowering income taxes, his tariffs would need to collect at least $2 trillion every year. This would have to happen without the economy failing and causing less tax money to be collected overall. Based on the numbers, this would be very hard to do.

The Republican government said that 17 of their 18 main trading partners have given them lists of possible agreements. This is just the first step for trade talks.

But foreign leaders say they don't know exactly what Trump wants or how agreements could be made to last. They also know Trump approved the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement in 2020, but then put new taxes on goods from those same two countries this year.

When Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Trump on Tuesday, he said the next trade deal should be stronger. He wanted to stop things like the taxes Trump put on fentanyl-related goods this year, which Canada felt were unfair.

"Some things about it will need to change," Carney said.

The high taxes on goods from China, and the taxes the U.S. added in return, are causing problems for the talks. The Treasury Secretary agrees that these taxes cannot last.

Talks between the U.S. and China will start this weekend in Switzerland, but they will probably only focus on reducing tensions so that real discussions can happen.

The main problem is that China produces most of the world's goods and sells them to other countries. This can harm industries in those countries. China sells so much because its own people don't buy enough of what it makes. The U.S. wants to change this trade situation, but it has also used taxes on goods from countries that could help it protect their industries against China.

"Clearly in this trade situation, China is the most important part," Bessent said this week. "What will happen with China?"

A spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, Lin Jian, said that the Trump government could start talks if they stop using strong words and remove the extra taxes on imported goods.

On Tuesday, Lin said that if the U.S. wants to solve the problem by talking, it should stop threatening and pressuring. He also said the U.S. should talk with China as equals, respecting each other and helping both sides.

When asked on Wednesday if he would lower the taxes on goods from China to start talks, Trump answered, "No."

The president also said he did not agree with the Chinese government when they claimed his team asked for the talks in Geneva.

Would Congress have to agree to any agreements?

That's not necessarily the case.

Trump put taxes on goods from other countries without Congress agreeing. He used a law from 1977 to do this, which has caused many lawsuits. His government also says they don't need Congress's permission to change these taxes later.

Before, presidents, like Trump, could only make smaller deals with countries like China. These deals were about specific trade and tax problems, according to a report from April. For instance, a deal in 2023 was about important minerals, and a deal in 2020 with Japan was about online trade.

The difficulty is that Trump has also included other trade rules, like safety standards for cars and the taxes in Europe, in his discussions. He hopes other countries will change their policies if the U.S. lowers the new taxes he put in place. Other countries, however, might not agree with the U.S. government helping its businesses.

According to a report, a deal to fix trade problems and change US law would need approval from both the House and Senate.

Is it really an agreement if Trump just makes it happen?

If other countries don't agree with him, Trump has said he will make his own deals and set import taxes. He has already done this, and these taxes caused financial markets to fall. Because of this, he stopped some of them for 90 days and charged a lower rate while discussions continue.

It looks like Trump will agree not to use the tariffs he first talked about if he thinks other countries are giving enough. This means the U.S. doesn't really give up anything because the tariffs were new. But Trump might also take away his tariffs without getting much in return.

Trump is known for starting with very big demands and then reducing them as talks continue, so we will see how long he keeps doing this," said William Reinsch, an expert at a research group in Washington. "But so far, it's clear that countries wanting a normal trade talk where both sides make important concessions are being turned away.