China called up begging to make a deal, says Donald Trump, and trade talks will begin imminently.
Trump did not say when the next round of talks would be held but assessed that Beijing’s enthusiasm is higher than it’s ever been before.
‘I have great respect for the fact that China called, and they want to make a deal,’ he said Monday morning at the G7 summit for the world’s most advanced economies. ‘And I think we’re going to have a deal. Because now we’re dealing on proper terms.’
The president is in France and spoke overnight in the U.S. before American markets opened. Tension had escalated with China on Friday when Beijing slapped new tariffs on $75 billion worth of U.S.-manufactured goods.
Trump hit back with an increase of 5 percent on $250 billion of already-penalized Chinese goods, bringing the total amount up to 30 percent.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He called for ‘calm’ negotiations Monday, even as Beijing allowed its currency, the yuan, to drop to the lowest level in more than a decade.
China called up begging to make a deal, says Donald Trump , and trade talks will begin imminently.
At a meeting with the Egyptian prime minister in Biarritz shortly after, Trump said, ‘They mean business. It’s why President Xi is a great leader. He understands.
‘And he’s able to do things other people aren’t able to do,’ he said of the dictator.
He said that China doesn’t want to lose its supply chains, and now it’s ready to negotiate to halt a skyrocketing trade war.
Trump had appeared to let off the gas on Sunday at the G7, admitting that he’d had ‘second thoughts’ in his trade war with China. The White House quickly reversed course, claiming that if anything, Trump wished he’d raised tariffs higher.
Aides also claimed he’d misheard a reporter’s question, and Trump was totally confident in his approach.
At a tech conference in Chongqing on Monday, Liu said that the trade dispute benefited no one.
‘We are willing to resolve the issue through consultations and cooperation in a calm attitude and resolutely oppose the escalation of the trade war,’ said Liu, according to a government transcript.
Xi’s top economic adviser said, ‘We believe that the escalation of the trade war is not beneficial for China, the United States, nor to the interests of the people of the world.’
Responding to a threat from Trump to harness emergency power and order U.S. businesses out of China, he said, ‘We welcome enterprises from all over the world, including the United States, to invest and operate in China.’
Vice Premier Liu He (pictured June 13) said Monday that China is willing to resolve its trade dispute with the United States through ‘calm’ negotiations and opposes escalating the conflict
Liu (second from right) shakes hands with United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer (second from left) on July 31, as US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (left) and China’s Commerce Minister Zhong Shan (right) look on
Liu’s statement comes a day after President Trump (with China’s President Xi Jinping) was quoted as saying that he had ‘second thoughts’ about the escalating trade war
Trump also said Monday that he had other ‘good news yesterday’ that the media got wrong.
He hinted that he was referring to a surprise drop-in at the G7 by the Iranian foreign minister.
‘I don’t want to comment on that. But he was here. And we’ll see what happens with Iran,’ he said.
Emmanuel Macron ‘asked my approval’ for my Zarif to visit. ‘We have a very good relationship,’ he said.
‘No no no,’ he spoke to me, he asked me. And I said if you want to do that, that’s OK, and I don’t think that’s disrespectful at all.’
He said that he is not looking for regime change. ‘You’ve seen how that works,’ he added.
The president suggested that he did not meet with Zarif, saying he thinks it’s too early a time for direct talks.
‘I don’t want to meet with him right now,’ he said but didn’t write off a meeting in the future.
He declined to comments on whether he sent Zarif a ‘message’ of any type through an emissary such as Macron.