The president said the US has benefited from a period of slower trade and refers to a decades-long trade deficit with China.
President Donald Trump said on May 4 that he had no plans to reduce tariffs on Chinese goods to trigger demand from China’s Communist Party (CCP) and bring negotiations.
On May 2, China’s commerce minister hinted that China would only come to the table after the US cuts in tariff rates. NBC’s “Meet the Press” anchor Kristin Welker referenced those remarks in an interview with Trump that aired Sunday and asked if they would meet those demands.
Trump immediately replied “No,” saying that more recent signaling was advantageous for pending negotiations. He hinted at the Chinese public message being scattered, saying that “15 different people are talking to you” for China.
Speaking about what’s coming next in negotiations between the US and China, Trump said, “They said they wanted to talk about it today.”
On boarding Air Force 1 late May 4, Trump told reporters he is not going to talk to CCP leader Xi Jinping this week, but that lower-level officials from both countries have met. Trump said his top priority for US-China relations is to ensure fair dealings.
Asked this week about the possibility of meetings with CCP officials and other foreign countries when drafting a new trade agreement, Trump said it would “do very well,” but did not provide details.
Shortly after Trump took office in January, the US escalated retaliatory actions in the trade war between the two biggest economies of the world, which began before China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.
Last week, China’s Commerce Department indicated that China, open to talking to the US, has requested that it cancel the current tariffs.
“So you’re not ready. To be very clear, are you dropping tariffs on China to take them to the negotiation table?” Welker asked.
When asked if he would lower the fee, Trump proposed a plan for him to ultimately do so, but did not give him a tough timeline.
“At some point, I’m going to lower them, or else you can’t do business with them and they want to do business very much. Look, their economy is doing really badly.
Meanwhile, the US said it has been gaining from a period of slower trade and refers to decades of trade deficits between the US and China.
“We were losing hundreds of millions of dollars in China. Now, we essentially do not do business with China. So we’re saving hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s very simple,” Trump said.
“Look, China – I don’t like this, I’m not happy about this – I’m killed right now,” Trump said. “Their factories are closed and their unemployment rates are passing through the roof. I’m not trying to make it into China.
“Now, at the same time, I’m not trying to get China to make hundreds of millions of dollars and build more ships, more army tanks and more planes.”
