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No more Mr. 'Very Nice' Guy? Trump warns that U.S. tariffs could be 'much steeper.'

Published: 30 Jan. 2026, 12:57

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, right, smiles as President Donald Trump, center, speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House on Jan. 29 in Washington. At left is Secretary of State Marco Rubio. [AP/YONHAP]

U.S. President Donald Trump said that the unilateral tariffs he has imposed on countries around the world could be “much steeper” than they are now. The remark was widely seen as signaling that, depending on circumstances, he could raise tariffs beyond the levels already in place to intensify pressure.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting he chaired at the White House on Thursday, Trump said of the tariffs he has imposed since taking office in January 2025 that he had been “very nice,” again raising the possibility of applying higher rates.

"They could be much steeper," Trump said. Ahead of the meeting, he posted on social media Thursday morning that he had been going easy on other countries and could raise tariffs at any time.

Trump said Monday he would raise tariffs on Korea by 10 percentage points, to 25 percent from 15 percent. A day later, on Tuesday, he said, “We'll work something out with Korea.”

Analysts say Trump’s renewed talk of tariff pressure comes as the European Parliament, pushing back against his demand that the United States annex Greenland and his tariff threats, has postponed approval of a trade deal between the European Union and the United States. It also comes as the pace of Korea’s implementation of an investment agreement with the United States has fallen short of Washington’s expectations.

Some also interpret the comments as an attempt to blunt the impact of his tariff threats, at a time when there is growing speculation that the U.S. Supreme Court could find the president’s reciprocal tariffs — imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (Ieepa) — to be unlawful.

At the meeting, Trump strongly criticized the plaintiffs in the tariff lawsuits, calling them “China-centric.” The plaintiffs include U.S. small businesses that say they were harmed by the tariffs, as well as 12 Democratic-leaning states.

President Donald Trump, right, speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House on Jan. 29 in Washington. [AP/YONHAP]

"These are people that are China [centric], but they are also outside of the United States,” said Trump. “These are countries that have ripped us off for years and years, charging us tariffs.”

He has also continued making hard-line remarks about the Supreme Court’s forthcoming decision, at times saying that without tariffs, the United States will collapse, in what critics view as direct or indirect pressure on the court.

In a social media post Thursday morning, Trump described other countries hit by his tariffs as “low interest rate paying cash machines.”

Trump added that the only reason the countries are “thought of as elegant, solid, and prime" is because "the U.S.A. allows them to be.”

The comments echo remarks he made while campaigning for president, including in October 2024, when he referred to South Korea as a “money machine,” underscoring an unapologetic view of U.S. trading partners as a source of cash.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, right, looks on as United States President Donald J Trump speaks in a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington on Jan. 29. [UPI/YONHAP]

Trump also attacked Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell over the decision to hold rates steady after Powell declined Trump’s calls for rate cuts.

“Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell again refused to cut interest rates, even though he has absolutely no reason to keep them so high,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He is hurting our Country, and its National Security. We should have a substantially lower rate now that even this moron admits inflation is no longer a problem or threat.”

Trump said he plans to announce a new nominee for Fed chair on Friday.

Names floated as contenders include Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council; Kevin Warsh, former member of the Fed Board of Governors; and current Fed governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman.

While Trump has argued that tariffs have revived the U.S. economy, the Commerce Department said Thursday that the U.S. trade deficit in November 2025 totaled $56.8 billion — up $27.6 billion, or 94.6 percent, from October’s $29.2 billion deficit.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell gestures during a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on interest rate policy in Washington on Jan. 28. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

It was the largest deficit in four months, since a $74.4 billion deficit in July 2025, and far exceeded the $42.9 billion deficit forecast by economists surveyed by Dow Jones.

Trump has repeatedly cited the October 2025 deficit — then at its lowest level in 16 years — as evidence that his tariff policy was producing results. Analysts said, however, that October’s narrower deficit reflected companies pulling pharmaceutical imports forward, ahead of Trump’s announcement that the United States would impose a 100 percent tariff on pharmaceuticals starting Oct. 1.

Trump later canceled the planned tariff. The larger deficit in November was linked to pharmaceutical imports returning to normal levels. Imports of pharmaceutical ingredients used for compounding rose again by $6.7 billion in November 2025, as the tariff was not implemented.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KANG TAE-HWA [[email protected]]