Trump delivers hard line on new China tariffs threat
WASHINGTON, United States — President Donald Trump warned Monday he will slap huge new tariffs on China if his counterpart Xi Jinping doesn't show up for a planned face-to-face meeting later this month and insisted the Chinese economy will never overtake the United States.
Trump delivered his hardline message ahead of the G20 summit on June 28-29 in Osaka, Japan, which could mark a turning point in the trade dispute between the world's two biggest economies.
Asked if a failure by Xi to come to the summit would lead to tariffs kicking in on a further $300 billion in Chinese imports, Trump told CNBC television: "Yes it would."
Trump said the meeting was "scheduled" and that he expects Xi to attend.
"I would be surprised if he didn't go," Trump said. "I think he's going, I haven't heard that he's not."
However, as US-Chinese tensions mount, a spokesman for Xi's government said last month that he had "no information at present" on Trump-Xi talks.
Trump has been trying to strongarm China into fundamental change on trade policies that the president argues have for decades put the United States at an unfair disadvantage.
The two sides seemed to be close to striking a bargain until talks stalled last month. Washington says that Beijing walked away at the last minute, while the Chinese side has signaled it is prepared for a long fight against unreasonable demands.
Trump has already imposed 25 percent duties on $200 billion of Chinese imports. China has responded with punitive tariffs on $60 billion in US goods.
Last month he threatened to slap tariffs on a further $300 billion of goods -- virtually everything American companies import from China -- if no breakthrough is achieved.
The US Trade Representative office has launched the process to impose the huge new duties, with a hearing scheduled for June 17 -- but Trump has said he has yet to decide whether he will ultimately impose the levies.
'They'll never catch us'
Trump has made tariffs a pillar of his foreign policy, arguing that US economic power puts him in a win-win situation when he threatens rivals like China and even close allies, such as Canada, the European Union and Mexico.
The United States says that China cheats in bilateral trade by forcing US importers to give up intellectual property, subsidizing its own companies, and running a huge trade surplus with Washington.
Trump told CNBC that by ratcheting up tariffs, he can ultimately force manufacturers to leave China.
"Those companies are going to move into other locations and there won't be a tariff," he said.
In a game of tit-for-tat, Trump added, China will lose simply because they have far fewer US imports they can target. "We have the big, big advantage," he said.
"China's going to make a deal because they're going to have to make a deal."
Trump's tariff rattling has spooked global markets and also run into pushback from many in Congress.
But in his lengthy CNBC interview, Trump said he is doing what previous presidents avoided because they "either didn't understand it or they were bored by it or they weren't smart enough."
His overall aim, the Republican said, is to ensure that China never overtakes the United States as the world's top economy.
"Had a Democrat gotten in..., China would have caught us," he said. Now "they'll never catch us."
US President Donald Trump says North American neighbors Canada and Mexico will get no relief from his new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports unless a "new and fair" free trade agreement is signed.
The Trump administration says the tariffs are necessary to preserve the American industries—and that doing so is a national security imperative. But Trump's latest tweets suggest he's also using the upcoming tariffs as leverage in ongoing talks to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement. The latest round of a nearly year-long renegotiation effort is concluding this week in Mexico City. — Associated Press
The United States and China spar over trade issues but promise to keep lines of communication open as Beijing's commerce minister paid a rare visit after a period of soaring tensions.
Minister Wang Wentao met US Trade Representative Katherine Tai on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation trade meeting in Detroit, a day after he saw his counterpart Gina Raimondo in Washington.
Tai "discussed the importance of the US-China trade relationship in the global economy and the need for both sides to continue engaging with one another," her office says in a statement. — AFP
The United States is not looking for a new deal in its negotiations with China over trading practices but rather to address practices by Beijing that it finds objectionable, Washington's trade chief says Thursday.
US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (USTR) is pursuing talks with Beijing over the "phase one" trade agreement the countries signed two years ago, under which China committed to buying $200 billion in American goods through 2021 in exchange for relief from tariffs imposed by then-president Donald Trump.
Tai, who was appointed after President Joe Biden took office last year, tells the Senate Finance Committee her talks with Beijing on its adherence to the deal have been "very difficult."
"I think that we're not necessarily looking at another deal in the next phase, but to expanding out our focus on China's challenges beyond its commitments and compliance in phase one to the issues that were not captured by phase one," she says. — AFP
Trade relations between Washington and Beijing are at a "difficult" stage but President Biden's administration is committed to protecting the US economy from negative impacts of China's policies, the top American trade official says.
United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai says her team will "engage robustly" with China in ongoing talks over Beijing's commitments to buy American goods under a deal signed under former president Donald Trump.
"We're in a very difficult stage of this trade relationship," Tai says, adding that "the conversations are not easy." — AFP
China hails a WTO decision allowing it to slap duties on $645 million worth of US imports each year, calling on Washington to follow the ruling and "stop seeking excuses" in a long-running anti-dumping dispute.
But the move by the World Trade Organization does not mean China will automatically impose the tariffs and Beijing stopped short Thursday of announcing any fresh duties.
"We hope the US stops seeking excuses and takes immediate action to correct its wrongdoing in the trade remedy investigation against China," commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng says.
"The WTO ruling once again proves that the US has long violated WTO rules, abused trade remedy measures, and refused to fulfil its international obligations." — AFP
President Joe Biden says his administration is working on removing tariffs on Chinese goods imposed by his predecessor, but Beijing will have to do more to meet its trade commitments.
"We're not there yet," Biden tells reporters when asked about the prospect of ending the tariffs.
At a press conference ahead of the first anniversary of his inauguration, Biden says US Trade Representative Katherine Tai is working on the issue with China but the timing is "uncertain." — AFP
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