Donald Trump denies agreeing to roll back trade war tariffs on China, despite earlier reports
- Beijing on Thursday said the two sides had agreed to roll back tariffs on each others’ goods as part of a ‘phase one’ trade deal
- But the US president denied this on Friday, telling reporters that he had not agreed to roll back tariffs
US President Donald Trump denied a claim by Beijing that he was willing to roll back tariffs on Chinese goods as part of an interim trade deal.
Asked by reporters at the White House on Friday if he would cancel punitive tariffs, Trump said: “They'd like to have a rollback. I haven't agreed to anything.”
“China would like to get somewhat of a rollback, not a complete rollback, because they know I won't do it,” he said. “Frankly, they want to make a deal a lot more than I do.”
Ministry spokesman Gao Feng had previously said: “In the past two weeks, top negotiators have had serious and constructive discussions on resolving issues of core concern. Both sides agreed to remove the additional tariffs imposed in phases as progress is made on the agreement.
“If China and the US reach a phase one deal, both sides should roll back existing additional tariffs in the same proportion simultaneously.”
The mixed messaging from Beijing and Washington comes amid uncertainty over where the two leaders would meet to sign a deal.