In an interview with Fox News, US President Donald Trump said there was a lot more he could do on China trade to hurt its economy.
US China trade war impacting global economy
In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, US President Donald Trump warned there is much more he could do to impact China’s economy.
The United States and China have been waging an escalating trade war with each other since earlier in the year. Last month, Trump imposed tariffs of nearly $200 billion on Chinese imports and threatened more should China retaliate.
Beijing then slapped $60 billion in tariffs on imported US goods.
“It’s had a big impact,” Trump said in the Fox News interview. “Their economy has gone down very substantially and I have a lot more to do if I want to do it.”
“I don’t want to do it, but they have to come to the table.”
Trump went on to say China wants to negotiate with the US, but he does not believe they are ready and says he told them so. He also put the blame on previous US presidents for allowing China to pursue unfair trade practices. He said he told Beijing “It’s over”.
“They lived too well for too long and, frankly, I guess they think the Americans are stupid people. Americans are not stupid people. We were led badly when it came to trade,” Trump told “Fox & Friends.”
Despite the fiery rhetoric, Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping are expected to meet at the G20 summit in Argentina in late November, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Larry Kudlow, White House economic advisor, said the possibility of the meeting is under discussion. The WSJ reported the Trump administration recently told Beijing it will meet in Argentina. China has been optimistic a meeting could help cut the growing trade tensions.
Reuters reports that Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a news briefing in Beijing on Friday that “China and the United States maintain communication at all levels of dialogue and exchanges”, but did not elaborate.
On Tuesday as a result of the escalating trade war, the International Monetary Fund cut its global economic growth forecasts for 2018 and 2019.
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