President Donald Trump told reporters on April 22 that if communist China does not agree to a trade deal, the United States would be the one setting the terms on tariffs.
“Ultimately, they have to make a deal because otherwise, they’re not going to be able to deal in the United States,” the president said at the swearing-in ceremony for new Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins. “So we want them involved but they have to, and other countries have to, make a deal. And if they don’t make a deal, we'll set the deal.”
That trade deal, he said, would be fair for everybody, putting an end to current trade deals with China and other countries that he described as leaving the United States “being ripped off left and right.”
“We’re losing almost $2 trillion on trade, and those days are gone,” he said. ”We’re not going to do that again.”
He said that his administration was going to be “very nice” working with China’s communist leader Xi Jinping to significantly lower tariffs, although not to zero. He also echoed his stance that China and other countries are going to want to make a deal with the United States.
“They are going to do very well, and I think they’re going to be happy, and I think we’re going to live together very happily and, ideally, work together,” Trump told reporters at the Oval Office on April 22.
The president’s comments come after his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, confirmed to reporters during a White House press briefing that Trump thought talks with the communist regime were moving in the right direction.
Last week, the White House stated that the ball was in China’s court regarding trade negotiations.
“We don’t have to make a deal with them,” Leavitt told reporters during a press briefing, quoting the president.
“There’s no difference between China and any other country except they are much larger, and China wants what we have, what every country wants: the American consumer. Or, to put it another way, they need our money.”
The administration has continued to impose higher and higher tariffs on the communist regime as it chooses to retaliate, while tariffs on other countries have been suspended after their leaders chose to reach out to negotiate fairer trade terms.
U.S. tariffs on a wide range of China-origin goods entering the country are now up to 245 percent, while Beijing’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods were raised from 84 percent to 125 percent.
