Donald Trump tweets: No need to rush to a trade deal with China
- US president takes to Twitter after raising tariffs on Chinese products
- Tells farmers revenue will be used to buy their products for humanitarian aid
United States President Donald Trump has said there is “no need to rush” to reach a trade deal with China because of the “massive payments” being generated from the US tariffs on Chinese products.
In a series of tweets on Friday, Trump refuted concerns that the collapsed trade talks would affect US agriculture, suggesting the government would use more than US$100 billion in tariff revenue to buy from its own farmers and ship the products to “poor and starving countries in the form of humanitarian assistance”.
“Talks with China continue in a very congenial manner – there is absolutely no need to rush,” he tweeted, saying that “massive payments” were going directly to the US Treasury.
“In the meantime we will continue to negotiate with China in the hopes that they do not again try to redo deal!”
The US increased tariffs from 10 per cent to 25 per cent on US$200 billion of Chinese imports on Friday, a day after Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He arrived in Washington for talks to end the trade war.