Trump says he will kill phase one trade deal if China US$200 billion spending promise falls short
- Slowdown in Chinese economy due to coronavirus pandemic may have affected Beijing’s ability to keep the deal but US president says ‘they have to buy’
- Also suggests China let the virus spread beyond its borders intentionally, while staying away from Wuhan lab theory
During a virtual town hall from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Sunday, Trump said China’s President Xi Jinping had only agreed to the deal because of the Washington-imposed tariffs which “at a minimum are the greatest negotiating tool that we have ever devised that we never use”.
“We're going to have to see what's going on [with the purchases] because of what happened,” said Trump. “They took advantage of our country. Now they have to buy and, if they don't buy, we will terminate the deal. Very simple.”
The phase one deal ended threatened tariffs on around US$155 billion worth of Chinese imports that were set to take effect at the end of 2019, and halved tariffs to 7.5 per cent on another US$120 billion in goods. But it kept in place the 25 per cent import taxes on US$250 billion worth of Chinese products.
