AsianFin -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signaled his desire for direct talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as the White House expressed its dissatisfaction with the slow progress in resolving the trade dispute.
Credit：China Central Television
Trump at Friday morning accused Beijing of “totally violating” the preliminary trade deal that U.S. and China reached two weeks ago in Geneva. In a post on his social media Truth Social, Trump indicated his good intention didn’t get rewarded for he made the deal with the purpose to save Chinese from devastating economic danger due to the tit-for-tat tariffs.
“The very high Tariffs I set made it virtually impossible for China to TRADE into the United States marketplace which is, by far, number one in the World,” Trump wrote. “We went, in effect, COLD TURKEY with China, and it was devastating for them. Many factories closed and there was, to put it mildly, ‘civil unrest.’ I saw what was happening and didn’t like it, for them, not for us. I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation, and I didn’t want to see that happen.”
Trump then attacked China in the post: “Because of this deal, everything quickly stabilized and China got back to business as usual. Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!! The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!” the president wrote.
Trump in the post didn’t specify details of his alleged violation. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer later in a CNBC interview raised same concerns, citing China’s purported non-compliance with the preliminary trade deal.
Greer complained China had not accelerate exports of critical minerals required for cutting-edge electronics. The “United States did exactly what it was supposed to do, and the Chinese are slow rolling their compliance,” said Greer. And such slow response, for Greer, is “completely unacceptable and has to be addressed”.
Following Trump and Greer, Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, on Friday stressed that the president prefers cooperation. Though he cautioned China’s behavior “opens up all manner of action for the United States.”
Trump at afternoon reiterated his accusation, but raised hope for addressing any disputes through direct communication between he and Xi.
“They violated a big part of the agreement we made,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “But I’m sure that I’ll speak to President Xi, and hopefully we’ll work that out.”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday has suggested direct contact between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping is required as trade talks between the world’s superpowers came to standstill.
Bessent said the progress has been slow since U.S. and Chinese high-ranking officials met in Geneva from May 10 to 11 and resulted in a temporary truce in the trade war, and talks between Washington and Beijing are “a bit stalled”.
Bessent though expected more dialogues with China in coming weeks. “I would say that they [Talks with China] are a bit stalled, I believe that we will be having more talks with them in the next few weeks,” he said in an interview with Fox News. The Treasury chief also said "I believe we may at some point have a call between the president and party Chair Xi."
Bessent said the magnitude and complexity of the U.S.-China talks requires both leaders to weigh in with each other. Noting Trump and Xi have “a very good relationship”, he felt confident that “the Chinese will come to the table when president Trump makes his promises known.”
