AsianFin -- U.S. President Donald Trump suggested on Friday he would not cut tariffs unilaterally if China doesn’t make meaningful concessions in return.
Credit：Xinhua News Agency
Trump spoke to reporters that he doesn’t plan to drop tariffs on China unless Beijing gives U.S. something “substantial” in return. Questioned what concessions he wants from China, Trump said he would like to see China opens its economy, but he believed that kind of openness can not be materialized by Beijing so it’s not certain he would seek the “open China” as part of the talks on tariffs.
“Go into China and sell our products, sell our wares. Open China. That would be a big win, but I'm not even sure I'm going to ask for it because they don't want it open,” Trump said on Air Force Once. “Opening up China would be a big win.”
In an interview with Time Magazine published earlier Friday, Trump said he will not call Chinese President Xi Jinping if Xi doesn’t held a call with hime, and Xi has already called him, which he doesn’t treat as a sign of weakness.
Trump in the interview revealed he’s made 200 trade deals and would unveil them in three to four weeks. Asked when the deals are going to be announced, Trump said he is dealing with all companies and “very friendly countries”, adding “We're meeting with China. We're doing fine with everybody.”
Trump on Friday was pressed multiple times by reporters to elaborate on the call with Xi he mentioned to Time but he dodged. When asked specifically if he'd spoken to him since the tariffs, Trump said, "I don't want to comment on that but I've spoken to him many times."
Trump on Tuesday made remarks about possible substantial China tariffs cuts through talks. The tariff levels “won’t be anywhere near that high,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “It will come down substantially but it won’t be zero.” The president replied "we're going to be very nice, they're going to be very nice, and we'll see what happens" when asked whether he planned to play "hardball" with Beijing and bring up with origins of the COVID-19 virus.
It was reported on Wednesday that China tariffs could be lowered to between 50% and 65%, compared with a total of 145% tariffs on China since Trump returned to the White House in January. One of options the Trump administration is reportedly considering is the layered tariffs, namely, 35% levies for Chinese imports the U.S. doesn’t deem as a threat to its national security, and at least 100% for items labeled as strategic to the country’s interest.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent the same day ruled out Trump’s Unilateral Tariff Cuts as he believes both U.S. and China need to come down mutually before bilateral talks can start. Bessent reiterated his remarks on Tuesday that the trade war between two countries is expecte to de-escalate.
"I think both sides are waiting to speak to the other," Bessent said. "I think at this point there would have to be a de-escalation by both sides," the Treasury secretary added, saying that "I would not be surprised if they went down in a mutual way," and that there is "no unilateral offer from the president to just de-escalate."
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later Wednesday echoed Bessent’s comments, stating that there would be no unilateral reduction in tariffs aginst China. Trump has made it clear, China needs to make a deal with America, and “we are optimistic that will happen”, Leavitt said in an interview with Fox News. She added that "we certainly need to see a reduction in tariffs and non-monetary tariff barriers from China."
