A day after softening his stance on trade war against China, President Donald Trump on Wednesday said his administration is in discussion with China on trade and that negotiations with countries are “going very well”. Trump made an impromptu comment outside the White House on Wednesday morning where he announced he plan to install a pair of new flagpoles on both sides of the White House spending money from his pocket.
The US is going to have a “fair deal” with China and that “everything’s active” on trade negotiations.
“Every country wants to partake, even countries that have ripped us off for many, many years. China is an example, but it’s not just China, European Union. They ripped us off for many, many years, and those days are over,” he added. “We’ll be able to lower taxes substantially,” he said.
What changed Donald Trump’s stance on tariff war against China?
According to reports, Trump was informed that his tariffs could disrupt supply chains, raise prices, leading to empty shelves. And the explanation was given by CEOs of the three of the nation’s biggest retailers — Walmart, Target and Home Depot. “The big box CEOs flat out told him [Trump] the prices aren’t going up, they’re steady right now, but they will go up. And this wasn’t about food. But he was told that shelves will be empty,” an administration official familiar with the meeting told Axios.
‘Opportunity for a big deal with China’
Trump’s treasury secretary Scott Bessent said US and China have an opportunity for a big deal. “If they want to rebalance, let’s do it together,” Bessent said during an appearance at the Institute of International Trade and Finance in Washington, DC.
“For decades, successive administrations relied on faulty assumptions that our trading partners would implement policies that would drive a balanced global economy,” Bessent said. “Instead, we face the stark reality of large and persistent US deficits as a result of an unfair trading system.”