WASHINGTON — President Trump insisted Thursday that a Chinese government spokesman was mistaken in denying trade talks to de-escalate massive tit-for-tat tariffs between the world’s two largest economies.
“[China is] saying it’s ‘fake news’ that trade talks are happening,” a reporter prompted Trump at the White House.
“Well, they had a meeting this morning,” the president replied.
“It doesn’t matter who ‘they’ is. We may reveal it later, but they had meetings this morning. And we’ve been meeting with China.”
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun was emphatic earlier in the day that no such talks had taken place.
“The reports are fake news,” Guo said. “As far as I know, China and the United States have not held consultations or negotiations on the tariff issue, let alone reached an agreement.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that in-depth trade talks with China were being “put to the side” for now — but there’s mounting speculation that both countries will reduce tariffs ahead of a potential deal in the future.
The optimism led to another good day on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing up 486 points, the Nasdaq gaining almost 458 points, and the S&P 500 up nearly 109 points.
Bessent has described the tariffs as “unsustainable” for American businesses — amid fears that a lack of China’s cheaply produced goods will cause many US stores to have empty shelves — while Beijing has accused Trump of “blackmailing” them into talks.
The current average US tariff rate on Chinese goods is 147.6% according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
China has responded with an average 124.1% duty rate on US goods.
Trump jacked up tariffs during his first term, leaving office with an average 19.3% rate — up from about 3.1% when he took office in 2017. Former President Joe Biden kept in place those tariffs and last year applied new ones, including a 100% levy on electric vehicles and a new 50% duty on solar panel parts.
In February and early March, Trump slapped additional 20% tariffs on China over its exports of fentanyl, which killed an estimated 334,000 Americans over the most recent five years for which data is available.
The president then hit China with an additional 34% “reciprocal” tariff on April 2, followed by another hike when Beijing retaliated.
Trump has paused his “reciprocal” tariffs for most countries — except China — through early July in the hope of new deals that reduce US trade deficits and break down foreign tariffs and non-tariff barriers.
Bessent met Thursday with a South Korean delegation, which the treasury secretary said “came with their ‘A-game,’” and talks with Japan and India have been described by administration officials as nearing completion.
