AsianFin -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday remained optimism about a satisfied trade deal with China through his talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week, but signaled the planned talks are not guaranteed.
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Trump expected to reach a “good” deal on trade when he has a “successful” meeting with Xi. “I have a great relationship with President Xi. I expect to be able to make a good deal with him,” Trump told during a lunch event with Republican senators at the White House. “So now we're going to have a fair deal, and I think we're going to have a very successful meeting. Certainly, there are a lot of people that are waiting for it,” Trump said.
But Trump didn’t rule out the possibility of dropping the planned meeting. "Maybe it won't happen. Things can happen where, for instance, maybe somebody will say, 'I don't want to meet. It's too nasty.'" But it's really not nasty," said the president.
Trump reiterated his threat of new tariffs on China if no deal is made by the November deadline. "Right now, as of November 1st, China will have about 155 per cent tariffs put on it. I don't think it's sustainable for them," he replied when asked if tariffs would be considered on China as it remains the top importer of Russian oil.
While suggesting he personally doesn’t want to take a tough stance on China, Trump defended his tariff agenda since the U.S. has been taken advantage of under the unfair deals these years. "I want to be nice to China. But China has been very rough with us over the years because we had presidents that weren't smart from a business standpoint... They allowed China and every other country to take advantage of us," Trump said.
Trump said the trade agreements his administration clinched with other trading partners including the European Union are all aimed at protection of national security. "I made a deal with the European Union. I made a deal with Japan and South Korea. A lot of these deals are great deals. It’s about national security. I was able to do it because of tariffs. We’re getting hundreds of billions, even trillions, of dollars paid into the United States... We’ll start paying off debt," he said.
Trump on September 19 disclosed he agreed with Xi during a phone call that day that two leaders would meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) annual meeting in South Korea from October 31 to November 1. Earlier this month, Trump threatened to cancel the meeting, and warned he would impose an additional 100% tariffs and software export controls on China as the retaliation for Beijing's recent rare earth export controls.
The United States will impose an additional 100% Tariff on Chinese imports, starting on November 1 or sooner, depending on any further actions or changes taken by China, and export controls on “any and all critical software” will go into effect on November 1, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on October 10. “I was to meet President Xi in two weeks, at APEC, in South Korea, but now there seems to be no reason to do so,” Trump wrote.
Trump later that day denied the planned meeting with Xi had been dropped. “But I don’t know that we’re going to have it,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “I’m going to be there regardless, so I would assume we might have it.”
Senior Trump administration officials including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent since then repeated the schedule of Trump-Xi talks on the sidelines of the APEC summit.
Trump on Friday eased his stance on Chinese tariffs. When asked if the levies he has threatened to impose on China could remain in place without significantly affecting the economy, Trump said the new tariffs were “not sustainable.” He showed optimism about his meeting with Xi could lead to a trade peace. “I think so. It looks like it’s going forward. I think so, they want to meet. We like to meet,” he said.
Trump on Sunday floated a list of demands for China. Rare earths, fentanyl and soybeans are among his top issues to address with Beijing at the negotiation table.
Trump on Monday said China has been “very respectful” of the U.S., and the tariffs on Chinese goods could be raised to a rate of 155% on November 1 “unless we make a deal.”
However, Trump that day saw a “fantastic” trade deal with China and said he plans to visit China “fairly early next year”. “I think when we finish our meetings in South Korea, China and I will have a really fair and really great trade deal together,” Trump said of his meeting with Xi.
Trump acknowledged the Taiwan issue would be one of topics when he meets with Xi, but played down the risk of a clash over the issue. He suggested China had no intention of invading Taiwan.
