The dueling narratives come as the administration is asking an appeals court to preserve a set of tariffs recently deemed to be illegal.
Shortly after a federal trade court declared many of President Trump’s tariffs to be illegal, Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, took to television to brush aside the setback.
“It cost us a week, maybe,” Mr. Lutnick said this month on Fox News, noting that other countries remained eager to strike new deals despite tariffs being in legal jeopardy.
“Everybody came right back to the table,” he added.
With the fate of the president’s tariffs hanging in the balance, the Trump administration has tried to project dueling narratives. Top aides have insisted publicly that their negotiations remain unharmed, even as some of those same officials have pleaded with the court to spare Mr. Trump from reputational damage on the global stage.
The administration will face two crucial tests on Monday. The government is scheduled to submit a new legal brief to a federal appeals court outlining why the tariffs should not go away, while Mr. Lutnick and other close Trump advisers meet with their Chinese counterparts in London to hammer out new trade terms.
The court could factor in “any sort of public statements the administration makes” as it decides whether to preserve existing tariffs as the case plays out, said Ted Murphy, a co-leader of the trade practice at the law firm Sidley Austin.
While Mr. Murphy said it remained to be seen how judges would view the government’s recent bullishness, he said that a decision that invalidated the president’s tariffs could “weaken the U.S. position” abroad.