President Donald Trump says Chinese import prices in the United States will finally be lowered, after Beijing and Washington seemed to soften their positions on potential commercial talks.
“At one point, I will lower them because otherwise you could never do business with them,” he said in a interview With “Meet The Press with Kristen Welker” by NBC, which recorded on Friday. “They want to do business a lot … their economy collapses.”
Weeks of climbing of tit-form between the two largest economies in the world have pushed American prices on Chinese products at 145% and Chinese on 125%. Over the past two weeks, the two parties have seemed to moderate their rhetoric.
In the interview, which was broadcast on Sunday, Trump recognized the record that the prices made on China, pointing factory closings and unemployment “through the roof”, but insisted that it would not take the first step.
“You don’t let the prices fall against China to bring them to the negotiation table?” Welker asked.
“Why would I do that?” Trump replied.
Friday, a spokesperson for the Chinese trade ministry said that the country was “Currently assessing” The United States’s proposals to start commercial talks, but that Trump must first “cancel” his “unilateral tariff hikes”.
American prices have already started to affect the Chinese Chinese economy. In April, factory activity there showed its Most steep contraction In 16 months, while new export orders have dropped to their lowest level since 2022, during the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to official data.
Trump told journalists on Sunday on the Air Force One that he did not intend to speak to Chinese chief Xi Jinping this week. “But China and our people talk about different things,” he added.
Trump said he was looking for a “fair” trade agreement with China, while repeating its assertion that the country took advantage of the United States, in terms of trade for years.