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.
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“They subsidise their industry, so our people are not paying,” Trump said on Fox. “There’s this big thing about tariffs, ‘Oh, our people pay’. It’s a lot of nonsense. You know what happens, really? Companies move back.”
Trump also again accused China of manipulating the value of its currency, the renminbi, to cushion the impact of US tariffs.
“Look, they’re paying hundreds of billions of dollars, I have 25 per cent on US$250 billion, and they subsidise it,” Trump said.
“They’re manipulating their currency in order to pay for it, they’re manipulating their currency lower, eventually that’s going to hurt them very badly and they’re also giving money to these companies.”
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China made moves to strengthen its currency this week, and during Trump’s presidency the US treasury department has repeatedly refrained from officially accusing China of manipulating the value of the renminbi.
While the US has complained for years that China keeps its currency artificially weak through intervention in foreign-exchange markets, the central bank in recent days has acted to underpin the yuan.
The People’s Bank of China set its daily reference rate for the currency at higher than market watchers expected for a tenth straight day on Wednesday, the longest run since September.
