Donald Trump says China has ‘totally violated’ trade deal with US
US President Donald Trump on Friday accused China of having “totally violated” a 90-day trade truce reached just weeks ago in Geneva but later said both sides could “work that out” when he next speaks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The deal announced on May 12 lowered US tariffs on Chinese imports from 145 per cent to 30 per cent and Chinese tariffs on US goods from 125 per cent to 10 per cent. The Trump administration recently hailed the “asymmetric” agreement as a significant victory for the US.
According to the administration, China also agreed to lift the countermeasures it had imposed in response to US tariffs Trump ordered in April, such as an export restriction on some critical minerals.
Trump on Friday said he made a “fast deal” to “save China” from “grave economic danger” caused by the tariffs.
“Because of this deal, everything quickly stabilised and China got back to business as usual,” Trump said in a social media post. “Everybody was happy! That is the good news.”
“The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, has totally violated its agreement with us,” he added. “So much for being Mr. nice guy!”