Washington:
US President Donald Trump has called his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, a “smart man” amid a trade war between the two countries that has triggered an economic storm across the world. The world’s two largest economies are at a crossroads after Trump imposed tariffs on China and Beijing announced retaliatory measures.
“I think President Xi is a man who knows exactly what needs to be done. He’s a very smart man. He loves his country. I know that for a fact. I know him very well,” told reporters at the White House.
“And I think he’s going to want to make a deal. I think that’s going to happen. We’ll get a phone call at some point, and everything will be ready,” he added.
“It is going to be a great thing for us, the world and for the humanity,” the US President said.
Since coming to power in January, Trump has introduced a slew of tariffs on various countries to address the alleged trade imbalance with the US.
US-China Trade War Escalates As Trump Hikes Tariffs
In what could escalate the ongoing US-China trade war, Donald Trump on Wednesday said he was raising tariffs on Chinese imports to 125 percent, citing a “lack of respect” from Beijing.
“Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately. At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the US and other countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” he posted on Truth Social.
“China wants to make a deal. They just don’t know how quite to go about it…President Xi Jinping is a proud man. They don’t know quite how to go about it, but they’ll figure it out,” he added.
A previous round of US tariffs had come into force earlier on Wednesday, hiking up duties on Chinese imports to 104 percent.
China, which has vowed to fight the measures “to the end”, responded to the 104 percent duties, saying it would raise its own tariffs on US imports from 34 percent to 84 percent, effective from Thursday.
It also said it had filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO), citing “bullying” tactics by the Trump administration.
China, which so far has unveiled reciprocal tariffs each time the US President has upped the ante, is yet to respond to the latest tariff hike.
Trump’s 90-Day Pause On Tariffs For Other Countries
Barring China, Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a 90-day pause on his sweeping tariffs imposed on dozens of countries.
“I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line, they were getting yippy, you know,” he told reporters after the announcement.
“Yippy” is a term in sports to describe a loss of nerves.
Trump said he had been watching the “very tricky” state of the crucial US bonds market before his decision.
“I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy,” he said.
(With agency inputs)
