When President Trump talks about trade, it is hard to understand the rules about taxes on goods. His team thinks this helps him.

Trump says the US does not need to sign any deals, but could sign many now. He wants good deals for everyone and does not care about other countries' markets. He says his team can talk about the rules, but he might just add taxes by himself.

Chad Bown wrote in an email that he could not understand it.

Some people think Trump is a good businessman because he wrote a popular book. But many people around the world are worried. This has made the stock market change a lot, and companies are not hiring new workers. Many things are not clear. Trump still says that new factories and jobs will come soon.

Trump wants to keep some import taxes when he makes a deal. He thinks these taxes can bring in a lot of money for the government. But other countries want to get rid of the taxes if they make a deal.

Recently, Trump said that tariffs are good for the country. He said they can make the country rich. He also said the money from tariffs can help pay off debt and make taxes much lower for people.

This year, the US government has collected $45.9 billion from taxes on goods from other countries. This is about $14.5 billion more than last year. This amount could increase a lot because of the different tax rates on goods from China, steel, aluminum, cars, and goods from Mexico and Canada.

To pay back the large debt and lower taxes, Trump's taxes on imported goods would need to collect a lot of money each year. This would also need to happen without hurting the economy so much that the government collects less tax. That would be very hard to do.

The Republican government said that 17 of the 18 countries they trade with have given them lists. These lists show what the countries might agree to change. But agreeing on these things would just be the first step for trade talks.

But other leaders said they don't know exactly what Trump wants or how to make agreements last. They also know Trump agreed to a trade deal in 2020 but then added new taxes on those countries this year.

When the Canadian leader met with Trump, he said the new plan should be stronger. This is to stop unfair taxes, like the ones Trump added this year because of fentanyl.

'Some things about it need to change,' Carney said.

High taxes on goods from China and high taxes from China on US goods make the talks difficult.

The first talks between the U.S. and China will start this weekend in Switzerland. They will probably just try to make things calmer so they can have important talks later.

The main problem is that China makes most things in the world and sells a lot to other countries. This can hurt businesses in those countries. China makes a lot but doesn't buy much itself, so other countries buy what China makes. The U.S. wants to change this, but it has also put taxes on things from countries that could help protect their car and technology businesses from China.

China is the biggest part of this trade puzzle, Bessent said this week. What will happen with China?

China said the US should stop using strong words and high taxes if they want to start talks.

Lin said on Tuesday that if the U.S. wants to solve the problem by talking, they should stop threatening. They should talk with China as equals, with respect, and in a way that helps both sides.

When someone asked Trump if he would lower the cost of goods from China to have talks, he said, "No."

The president said China was wrong when they said his government wanted to talk in Geneva.

Would the government need to agree to any deals?

That might not be entirely accurate.

Mr. Trump put taxes on many goods without asking Congress. He used a special law from 1977 to do this. Because of this, people have taken him to court. The government also says they can change these taxes later without Congress agreeing.

Before, presidents like Trump could only make small deals about trade with countries like China. They only talked about specific things like taxes on goods. For example, there was a deal about important minerals in 2023 and a deal about online trade with Japan in 2020.

The problem is that Trump also wants to talk about other things that make trade difficult, like rules about how safe cars must be or taxes in Europe. He wants other countries to change these rules if the U.S. stops charging new taxes on goods from other countries. Other countries might say that the U.S. helps its own companies too much.

A report says the House and Senate would need to agree on a deal that changes US laws.

Is it a real agreement if Trump just says it should happen?

Trump said if other countries don't agree, he will make his own deals and put a tax on goods from those countries. He did this a little in April. When he put these taxes on imports, the money markets went down. So, he stopped some new taxes for 90 days and used a lower tax while they talked.

It looks like Trump will not use the tariffs if other countries give enough.

Trump often asks for a lot and then changes his mind later, so we don't know how long he will do this, said William Reinsch. But now it seems that countries who want normal talks where both sides give something are being refused.