Trump says China wishes to restart trade negotiations
US President Donald Trump confirmed China has asked Washington to re-start trade talks hours after Beijing’s top negotiator publicly called for calm in the ongoing tensions.
The comments came after increases in tit-for-tat tariffs over the weekend and after China’s Vice Premier Liu He called for a de-escalation in tensions.
“China called last night our trade people and said let’s get back to the table,” Trump said on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in Biarritz, France. “They understand how life works.”
According to Bloomberg, Trump said US officials had received two two “very productive” calls from the Chinese government.
“They want to make a deal,” he said, adding: “We’re going to start very shortly and negotiate and see what happens but I think we’re going to make a deal.”
Over the weekend the US responded to Beijing’s retaliation on an earlier tariff increase by the US and announced that existing 25% tariffs on some $250bn in imports from China would rise to 30% come 1 October.
The White House also issued a statement on Sunday morning saying Trump’s only regret was not raising levies on China higher, after the president appeared to cast doubt on his own policy during the G7 summit on Biarritz.