On Friday, the administration carved out an exception for a variety of electronics from the steep taxes now applied to Chinese imports.

© Qilai Shen for The New York Times

The administration says foreign governments are racing to the United States to negotiate, but exactly which countries might strike a deal — and over what — remains unclear.

The president further raised already steep tariffs on China, saying that Beijing should not have retaliated against his earlier trade actions.

President Trump’s next round of tariffs on major trading partners went into effect just after midnight, bringing levies on China to at least 104 percent.

Jamieson Greer, the United States trade representative, told senators the U.S. is economy is in need of “drastic, overdue change.”

China’s top foreign affairs official, Wang Yi, cast his country as a force for peace and order even as Beijing provokes its neighbors and fuels trade tensions.

In his address to Congress, the president made clear that his new trade levies were here to stay, acknowledging it might create “a little disturbance.” Analysts forecast what that might look like.