President Trump on Sunday defended where the White House was at in trade negotiations with China, days after talks between the White House and Beijing failed to produce a new agreement.
“We are right where we want to be with China. Remember, they broke the deal with us & tried to renegotiate. We will be taking in Tens of Billions of Dollars in Tariffs from China. Buyers of product can make it themselves in the USA (ideal), or buy it from non-Tariffed countries,” Trump wrote on Twitter Sunday evening.
We are right where we want to be with China. Remember, they broke the deal with us & tried to renegotiate. We will be taking in Tens of Billions of Dollars in Tariffs from China. Buyers of product can make it themselves in the USA (ideal), or buy it from non-Tariffed countries…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2019
The Republican president said the United States will then spend money “China may no longer be spending” with American farmers.
“….We will then spend (match or better) the money that China may no longer be spending with our Great Patriot Farmers (Agriculture), which is a small percentage of total Tariffs received, and distribute the food to starving people in nations around the world! GREAT! #MAGA,” Trump wrote.
….We will then spend (match or better) the money that China may no longer be spending with our Great Patriot Farmers (Agriculture), which is a small percentage of total Tariffs received, and distribute the food to starving people in nations around the world! GREAT! #MAGA
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2019
Trump’s insistence that the U.S. is in a good position with China comes days after China decided to walk away from concessions it had said it was willing to make in the trade war. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in Washington but were unsuccessful in making a deal.
Trump responded by boosting tariffs from 10% to 25% on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports and said he would add tariffs on $300 billion more of Chinese goods. Trump also claimed President Xi Jinping was delaying talks until early 2021, when a Democrat could take office.
“I think that China felt they were being beaten so badly in the recent negotiation that they may as well wait around for the next election, 2020, to see if they could get lucky & have a Democrat win – in which case they would continue to rip-off the USA for $500 Billion a year,” Trump wrote Saturday.
