Trump makes U-turn and says ‘I don’t blame China’

BEIJING: US President Donald Trump decried his country’s “one-sided and unfair” trade deficit with Beijing but he told Chinese President Xi Jinping: “I don’t blame China.”

At a signing ceremony for over US$ 250bil (RM1 trillion) in US-Chinese business deals in Beijing, Trump said: “After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for the sake of its citizens?”

However, he pointed the blame at past US administrations “for allowing this out-of-control trade deficit to take place and to grow”.

The Trump administration has aggressively pursued trade remedies in commercial relations with Beijing – investigating Chinese trade practices on intellectual property and in aluminium and steel.

Alleged Chinese misdeeds in commerce were a mainstay of Trump’s populist campaign for the White House but since taking office he has refrained from labelling Beijing a currency manipulator.

Xi has sought to cast himself as a champion of globalisation as the United States retreats behind Trump’s “America First” policy.

But United States and European firms still complain about being barred from certain sectors and forced to share their technologies with local competitors to gain access in some industries.

After talks with his Chinese counterpart, Trump said that China has to take greater action on market access, forced technology transfers and intellectual property theft.