WASHINGTON: More than 50 countries have reached out to the White House to begin trade talks, a top economic adviser to US President Donald Trump said on Sunday as US officials sought to defend sweeping new tariffs that have unleashed global turmoil.

During an interview on ABC News’ ‘This Week,’ US National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett denied that the tariffs were part of a strategy by Trump to crash financial markets to pressure the US Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.

He said there were would be no “political coercion” of the central bank.

In a Truth Social post on Friday, Trump shared a video that suggested his tariffs aimed to hammer the stock market on purpose in a bid to force lower interest rates.

EU expected to approve targeted countermeasures on US imports

However, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a separate interview on NBC News’s Meet the Press, downplayed the stock market drop and said there........

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