The US and China are effectively in a trade war, President Donald Trump has said, while portraying tariffs on Beijing’s imports as vital for national security.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, when asked if a failure to reach a trade deal with China’s Xi Jinping would mean a prolonged trade war, Trump replied: “Well, you’re in one now… We have 100% tariff. If we didn’t have tariffs, we would be exposed as being a nothing… Tariffs are a very important tool for our defense, for our national security.”
Commenting on the stand-off with the US, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian reiterated that “tariff wars and trade wars have no winners” and called for resolving issues “through consultation on the basis of equality, respect, and mutual benefit.”
Trump last week threatened to impose an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods starting in November, marking a sharp escalation in tensions following Beijing’s decision to introduce tighter export restrictions on the export of rare-earths.
While the policy does not explicitly target the US, American high-tech companies are highly dependent on Chinese rare-earth supplies.
Earlier this year, Trump drastically raised the “reciprocal tariffs” for China, which in certain cases exceeded 100%, although he later suspended the hike to allow trade talks to proceed, with the pause now extended until November 10. The current baseline tariff for China is now at 10%, although some goods face higher rates.
The US leader also pressed Beijing to scale back purchases of Russian oil, arguing such flows help finance Moscow’s military. China has dismissed the remarks as “intimidation” while Moscow has stressed that sovereign countries have the right to choose their own economic partners.
Meanwhile, in another sign of escalating tensions, Trump announced on Tuesday that the US would stop buying cooking oil from China, casting it as a response to Beijing paring back US soybean purchases.
However, despite the ongoing back-and-forth, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed earlier this week that Trump and Xi are still scheduled to meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in South Korea in late October.
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