President Donald Trump on June 11 said tariffs were a useful negotiating tool, while the Chinese regime has yet to confirm a meeting between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the upcoming G20 Summit.
Trump, in a series of tweets, said “tariffs are a great negotiating tool,” and a “powerful way to ... get companies that have left us for other lands to come back home.”
He also said the Chinese regime devalues its currency and subsidizes companies in order to lessen the effect of U.S. tariffs imposed on its goods.
Last week, Trump said he would decide whether to impose additional tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods after meeting with his Chinese counterpart at the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, in late June.
While the president has said on multiple occasions that the two leaders are scheduled to meet during the summit, the Chinese regime has refused to confirm the engagement. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on June 11 said the information would be released once it was available to the foreign ministry.
Yesterday Trump said the further tariffs would go into effect immediately if Xi does not meet with him.
In early May, the U.S. administration increased tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods after accusing the Chinese regime of reneging on commitments made over months of negotiations. The regime retaliated by imposing a tariff hike on $60 billion of U.S. imports.
Relations between the two countries further deteriorated after the United States effectively banned Chinese telecom giant Huawei from doing business with American firms, on national security grounds.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said at a press conference on June 11 that he was hopeful a meeting between Trump and Xi during G20 would lead to future trade discussions.
“At the G20, at most it will be ... some sort of agreement on a path forward, but certainly it’s not going to be a definite agreement,” Ross said.