US China Trade War: Trump says that he will lower the tariffs for Chinese imports “at some point”

Cnn
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President Donald Trump says that the tariffs for Chinese imports are finally reduced to the United States after both Beijing and Washington seemed to alleviate their positions on potential trade talks.

“At some point I will lower them because otherwise they could never do business with them,” he said in an interview with NBCS “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker”, which was taken on Friday. “You want to do very business … your economy breaks down.”

The weeks escalation between the two largest economies in the world drove the US tariffs for Chinese products to astonishing 145% and Chinese taxes for American goods to 125%. In the past two weeks, both sides seemed to moderate their rhetoric.

In the interview that was broadcast on Sunday, Trump admitted that the tariffs cost China and pointed out the factory closures and unemployment “through the roof”, but insisted that he would not take the first step.

“You don't drop the tariffs against China to bring them to the negotiating table?” Asked Welker.

“Why should I do that?” Trump replied.

On Friday, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said that the country “currently” assessed “proposals” to start trading talks, but that Trump first had to “cancel” his “one -sided tariff hikes”.

The US tariffs have already started to influence China's export-dependent economy. In April, the factory activity there has been showing its steepest contraction there for 16 months, while after official data in the depths of the Covid 19 pandemic, its lowest level had dropped since 2022.

On Sunday, Trump said reporters on board Air Force One that he had no plans to speak to the Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week. “But China and our people talk about different things,” he added.

Trump said he was looking for a “fair” trade agreement with China and repeats his claim that the country has been exploiting the United States for years in terms of trade.

In addition to China, Trump said that his government had “almost” met in every country, and some trade agreements could “very well” announced this week.

“We are negotiating with many countries, but in the end I will determine my own offers because I have set the deal not to determine the deal,” he said.

Depending on the status of the negotiations, he said: “At a certain point in time, I will only determine a certain tariff number.”

During the NBC interviews, Trump also said that he was ready to extend the deadline for the Chinese company Bytedance to sell TikTok's US operation, a very popular short video platform that has accumulated 170 million American users.

The congress under the then President Joe Biden passed a law last year, according to which the Beijing -based company sells Tikkok in the United States or to be a ban on national security concerns. Trump has extended the deadline twice because a deal has not yet come about, although she repeatedly emphasized the massive interest that American investors have in the app.

“I would like to see it,” he said, adding that he had a “sweet spot” for the platform because he helped him win young voters in the 2024 presidential election.

“Tikok is very interesting, but it is protected,” he added.