Maggie Haberman and Jake Tapper Snark at Trump Trade Announcement: ‘One Deal Done-ish’

CNN commentator and New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman and CNN anchor Jake Tapper snarked about President Donald Trump’s trade announcement, calling it a “done-ish” deal and deriding it as “low-hanging fruit.”

Trump scored a long-awaited victory when he announced a trade deal with the United Kingdom Thursday, then held an Oval Office photo op complete with a call-in from U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

But even during his celebratory announcement, Trump faced skepticism from reporters about the significance of the deal, and one conservative commentator — longtime radio star Erick Erickson —  called the deal “pretty shitty.”

Haberman was a guest on Thursday’s edition of CNN’s The Lead, during which Tapper opened by asking her about the deal, which he noted was “not quite a fully fleshed-out deal.”

Both expressed skepticism about the substance of the announcement as anything more than a response to mounting pressure for any kind of announcement:

JAKE TAPPER: In our money lead, deal or no deal? President Trump today making a major announcement with the United Kingdom saying that the U.S. and the U.K. have agreed on the framework of a substantial trade deal. That said, we should note it is not quite a fully fleshed out deal, deal exactly, at least not yet. It is quite light on specifics with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying that the details need to be ironed out according to U.S. and U.K. officials who previewed the deal for CNN, it leaves in place the existing 10 percent universal tariffs that Trump placed on virtual all good — virtually all goods coming into the U.S. Still, apparently what has been negotiated creates something of a concrete pathway to a broader trade pact which could offer some relief from these high tariffs threatening serious damage to the U.S. and global economies.

“The New York Times” White House Correspondent Maggie Haberman is in town. We’re always lucky to have her when she’s here.

Thanks for joining us, Mags. Good to see you.

MAGGIE HABERMAN: Jake, good to see you.

TAPPER: So, Trump has one trade deal done ish —

HABERMAN: Ish.

TAPPER: Ish. He loves to announce things.

HABERMAN: Yes.

TAPPER: He still has dozens and dozens more deals left to get done. Today, he said he’s working on three of them right now. What sort of headspace is he in? How much pressure did he feel like he needed? How much pressure did he feel to make this call and announce something, given the fact that they’ve been saying for more than a week that they’re right there about to announce something?

HABERMAN: Look, in terms of headspace, he’s very happy with what they put out today. But it is notable, as you said, it has been a while since the pause went into effect and they were talking about trade deals coming quickly. The big question is going to be the China talks this weekend. But they are feeling as if this is a signal to other countries that there will be relief for them on tariffs if they forge some kind of a deal.

This was low hanging fruit. This was, I would say, actually something the Biden administration could have had in terms of a trade deal with the U.K. and they just didn’t want to for a variety of reasons. The U.K. has been eager for a deal, too. There is not a trade deficit with the U.K.

TAPPER: Yes.

HABERMAN: It says a trade surplus.

TAPPER: Right.

HABERMAN: So it’s a little different than the other countries in question here. But this is good news for the administration as they are trying to find a path to lower some of these tariffs —

TAPPER: OK.

HABERMAN: — on other countries.

Watch above via CNN’s The Lead.