Trump says he wants to negotiate 'fair deal' with China
What's the story
US President Donald Trump said he's willing to negotiate a fair deal with China and wants the latter to open its market like the US.
Having slapped China with additional tariffs on import of its products worth $250bn, Trump didn't rule out coming up with more tariffs on Chinese products.
He made the statement in an interview with CBS News's popular '60 Minutes' programme.
Details
Trump-Xi relationship might be jeopardized due to trade war
Trump said if things don't improve between the US and China, he might not have a good relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"I've a great chemistry... with President Xi. I don't know if that's necessarily going to continue. I told President Xi we cannot continue to have China take $500bn a year out of the US for trade and others things," he said.
Relationship
Trump met Xi multiple times since he became President
Xi is one of the few world leaders to have been hosted by Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Trump has traveled to China and met Xi multiple times after he became the President on January 20, 2017.
However, the relationship has deteriorated since and has reached an all-time low since the historic visit of the then President Richard Nixon in 1972.
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Trump says China can't retaliate even if it wants to
Responding to a question, Trump claimed that China, even if it wants, cannot retaliate beyond a point. "They can't, they don't have enough ammunition to retaliate. We do $100 billion (worth of business) with them. They do $531 billion with us," he said.
Fair deal
But, Trump doesn't want to push Chinese economy into depression
Trump denied that he wanted to push the Chinese economy into depression.
"No no, although they are down 32% in four months, which is 1929 (The Great Depression)," he said.
"I don't want that. No, I don't want that. I want them to negotiate a fair deal with us. I want them to open their markets like our markets are open," Trump said.
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Trump quite confident that he will win
Trump exuded confidence that he will win what he described as a "skirmish" with China. "I called it a battle. But, actually, I'm gonna lower that. I consider it a skirmish. And we're gonna win," he said.