Donald Trump says ‘it doesn’t matter’ if Xi Jinping agrees to meeting at G20 because US is ‘collecting billions in tariffs’ from China
- US president insists Chinese exporters bear burden of tariffs despite economists agreeing costs are largely borne by US consumers
- Trump again accuses Beijing of manipulating value of yuan to cushion impact of US duties
US President Donald Trump said “it doesn’t matter” if Chinese President Xi Jinping agrees to meet him later this month to restart trade negotiations because the US is collecting billions of dollars in tariffs on goods from the country.
“If he shows up, good,” Trump told Fox News on Friday. “If he doesn’t – in the meantime, we’re taking in billions of dollars a month.” He added: “Eventually, they’re going to make a deal, because they’re going to have to. Look, they’re paying hundreds of billions of dollars.”
Trump has repeatedly threatened to raise tariffs if Xi does not meet him at the June 28-29 Group of 20 leaders’ meeting in Osaka, Japan. Trump is committed to attending the summit regardless of whether he meets with Xi, US officials said. Trump said on Wednesday that he had no deadline for China to return to trade talks.
Negotiations with Beijing broke off last month after the US accused China of reneging on provisions of a tentative agreement.
Trump raised tariffs on about US$200 billion of Chinese imports to 25 per cent, and said he would expand the tariffs to cover another US$325 billion in goods – substantially everything the country exports to the US – unless Chinese leaders reverse course.
Trump repeated his claim that Chinese exporters bear the burden of the tariffs, refuting the consensus of economists that the costs are largely borne by US consumers in the form of higher prices.