President Trump claimed Wednesday that the U.S. had a trade deal with China mostly complete in late April before Beijing tried to walk back concessions it made during the talks. Beijing has denied that it ever made the concessions and reportedly views the claim as an insult.
“We had a deal done. Almost all of the tough points were negotiated. They were negotiated, and they were agreed to. Everything was finished. And then China told us they can’t agree to it,” Trump said told reporters during a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda. “They already agreed on it. All right, I said, ‘That’s OK, we’re going to put tariffs on it. 25% on $250 billion.’ Now we have another $325 billion left [of Chinese goods], and if we don’t make a deal, we’re going to put a tariff on that too.”
Trump and other White House officials have repeatedly placed blame on China after talks broke down last month. Reuters reported Wednesday that there was “deep anger” inside Beijing regarding the White House’s claims, with officials comparing the accusation to backing out of a marriage at the last minute. “You don’t promise to marry someone and then back out at the last minute,” said a source who meets regularly with senior officials.
Trump has previously said he would meet with Xi at the June 28-29 G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, to discuss trade. Both sides have more recently downplayed the prospects for talks. “Preparations for the G20 summit in Japan are ongoing. We have nothing to announce at this time regarding specific bilateral meetings,” White House National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis said Wednesday.
