President Trump said Wednesday that the reason behind China’s attempt to walk back commitments it previously made in trade talks with the U.S. is that Beijing wants to stall things until Democrats are in office because they would be pushovers.
“The reason for the China pullback & attempted renegotiation of the Trade Deal is the sincere HOPE that they will be able to “negotiate” with Joe Biden or one of the very weak Democrats, and thereby continue to ripoff the United States (($500 Billion a year)) for years to come,” Trump tweeted Wednesday.
[Related: Trump says Biden is ‘very naive’ on China]
The reason for the China pullback & attempted renegotiation of the Trade Deal is the sincere HOPE that they will be able to “negotiate” with Joe Biden or one of the very weak Democrats, and thereby continue to ripoff the United States (($500 Billion a year)) for years to come….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2019
The president followed that with: “Guess what, that’s not going to happen! China has just informed us that they (Vice-Premier) are now coming to the U.S. to make a deal. We’ll see, but I am very happy with over $100 Billion a year in Tariffs filling U.S. coffers…great for U.S., not good for China!”
Trump was referring to China’s attempt over the weekend to back away from trade commitments it had previously made with the U.S. following months of negotiations. Beijing sent an extensively rewritten version of the existing deal to the U.S. on Friday, prompting the president to threaten on Sunday to starkly escalate tariffs on China if it did not revert to the prior deal.
On Wednesday, the Office of the United States Trade Representative published an official notice that it would hike the existing tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25% across the board, up from 10% in most cases, and slap 25% tariffs on an additional $325 billion worth of goods. The tariffs would be effective midnight Thursday, the same day Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is set to arrive in the U.S. to continue talks.
Joe Biden’s deputy campaign manage Kate Bedingfield tweeted back at Trump: “Unfortunately, the only people @realdonaldtrump has gotten tough w/ so far on trade are US farmers, small business owners & consumers, who feel the brunt of his tariff war. @JoeBiden will invest in our core strengths & ensure that US & our allies write rules of the road re: China.”
