Trump threatens new tariffs on China, says no trade deal
US President Donald Trump yesterday threatened to impose new tariffs on an additional $267bn worth of imports from China, asserting there will be no deal with Beijing unless it changes its unfair trade practices. Referring to his trade-war with China, Trump told reporters at a White House news conference that China wanted to talk to the US very badly, but he wasn't ready yet.
China wants to talk to US very badly: Trump
"As you know, we have $250 billion at 25% interest with China right now, and we could go $267 billion more. China wants to talk very badly. I said, 'Frankly, it's too early to talk,'" Trump said. "Can't talk now, because they're not ready, because they've been ripping us for so many years. It doesn't happen that quickly," he emphasized.
China took money from US and built fighter jets, bridges
Trump said that China has a surplus of $375bn with the US and it has been that way for years. "I always say we rebuilt China. They took that money and they built fighter jets and bridges. They built more bridges that we built in the last hundred years, probably. Big ones like the George Washington Bridge," he said.
Trump blames US leadership for the surplus China has
Trump, however, said he didn't blame China for the surplus. "I blame our leadership. They should have never let that happen," he said. "I told that to China's President Xi... I was making a speech in China and I was really hitting China hard... But I looked at it and said, I don't really blame you... He knew exactly what I meant," Trump said.
Timeline of tariffs imposed on China by US
On September 18, Trump announced imposing new tariffs on an additional $200bn worth of imports from China. Previously, to counter China's unfair practices, he had announced on June 15 that the US would impose tariffs of 25% on $50 billion worth of Chinese imports.
We have a lot of other problems with China: Trump
Trump said, "We don't have a deal with China. There is no deal." "So we have a tremendous problem with theft of intellectual property with China. We have a lot of other problems with China. We have primarily trade problems. And, as you know, they're having a much more difficult time now. I don't want them to have a difficult time," Trump said.
Trump says US charges China 'essentially nothing'
"When we put on a 25% tariff on every car that goes from the US into China, we thought we would be rebuked, we thought it would be terrible. Nobody ever called. Nobody did anything," Trump said, adding the US was essentially charging China nothing.
