Tom Howell, Jr. | April 23, 2025

(The Washington Times) — Wall Street rallied Wednesday after President Trump softened his rhetoric on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and China.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened nearly 800 points in positive territory after Mr. Trump said late Tuesday he had “no intention” of firing Mr. Powell, even though he thinks the central bank needs to cut interest rates.

Investors had been skittish about Mr. Trump’s earlier comments, in which he said Mr. Powell ought to be terminated. The Fed is considered an independent body, so moves to fire its chair would have set off economic turmoil.

Mr. Trump also said tariffs against China would come down from the sky-high rate of 145% after negotiations.

“It’ll come down substantially. But it won’t be zero,” Mr. Trump said in the Oval Office. “I think we’re going to live together very happily, and ideally work together.”

China is imposing a 125% tariff on U.S. goods. The tit-for-tat was unleashed by Mr. Trump’s April 2 plan for reciprocal tariffs on select nations.

Beijing retaliated, resulting in a standoff between the world’s biggest economies.

“If they don’t make a deal, we’ll set the deal,” Mr. Trump said.

China’s foreign ministry said Wednesday its “doors are open, if the U.S. wants to talk.”

“If a negotiated solution is truly what the U.S. wants, it should stop threatening and blackmailing China and seek dialogue based on equality, respect and mutual benefit,” ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said. “To keep asking for a deal while exerting extreme pressure is not the right way to deal with China and simply will not work.”

While it is unclear when or how talks with China would begin, nations like Japan and India are working to cut deals that would reduce trade barriers and tariffs.

“We’re making progress across the board. It’s a little bit too early to prejudge, to say what any of these deals is going to look like,” Vice President J.D. Vance said Wednesday while traveling in India.

He said Mr. Trump is trying to correct a trade system that “has become fundamentally imbalanced,” Mr. Vance said.

“The American taxpayer and the American nation has become the piggy bank for the entire world,” Mr. Vance said. “We absorb the world’s producer surplus, but that’s bad for American workers.”