Sharing with the reporter at the Oval Office on April 17, US President Donald Trump said he did not want to continue to increase tariffs with Chinese goods imported into the United States because this could stagnate trade operations between the two countries.
He said that some Chinese officials that he thought of representing Chinese President Xi Jinping approached his government on trade. However, the president dodged questions about whether he and Mr. Xi contacted each other directly.
“I have a very good relationship with Xi and I think this relationship will continue. I want to say that they have approached us many times,” Mr. Trump said.
When asked whether the person who contacted him was Tap or Chinese officials, Trump replied, “The same. I find this no different. It will be China’s highest levels.”
“If you know him well, you will know that if they contact, he will know this. He knows everything related to this, he runs closely, strong and intelligent,” Mr. Trump continued to speak, referring to Xi’s understanding that officials contacted the US government.
According to analysts, Mr. Trump seems to be “impatient” when the Chinese side has not officially contacted to negotiate trade. In a social network on April 8, he said he was waiting for China’s call and said that this would certainly happen. On April 15, he continued to mention this issue and emphasized: “The decision is in the hands of China. They need to reach an agreement with us, not we need to agree with them.”
Recently, the US and China continuously increased tariffs on each other’s goods, increasing tensions between the two largest economies in the world. According to Trump’s new tariff policies, Chinese goods imported into the US are currently subject to 145%tariffs. Meanwhile, Beijing is responding with 125% tariffs on US goods.
Also shared with the reporter on April 17, Mr. Trump said he could be ready to take tariffs with China.
“At some point, I do not want to apply more tariffs, because the tariffs increased to a certain level that will cause people not to buy goods anymore,” Mr. Trump said. “I may want to reduce taxes. You know, I want people to buy goods.”
The US and China have not found a common voice up to now. The White House said that Beijing should actively contact first to start negotiations, while the Chinese side said it was unknown about American requirements.
However, Mr. Trump expressed confidence in a trade agreement between the two economies as well as an agreement on the sale of the US Branch Tiktok.
“We have an agreement for Tiktok but this depends on China. We will only postpone the deadline of that agreement until everything is resolved,” Trump said at the Oval Office. “This is a good agreement for China.”
When asked whether to consider reducing tariffs for China if Beijing promotes Bytedance, Tiktok’s parent company, selling this platform in the US or not, Mr. Trump said that this is a problem he will discuss with Beijing.
“The implementation of this agreement is very normal. I guess we will only take 5 minutes to talk about Tiktok. Not long ago,” the president said.
As revealed by the Chinese government source with the Bloomberg news agency, Beijing wants the Trump administration to take some actions before the two sides sit at the trade negotiation table. These actions include showing more respect by restraining the disdainful speech of China’s cabinet members.
Other conditions including Washington showed a more consistent stance and is willing to solve Beijing’s concerns regarding Taiwan issues and US embargo measures. In addition, China also wants the US government to appoint a main hub for the negotiations.
