President promises friendship with China
Trump team tries to tamp down fears of trade war between economic giants
WASHINGTON – President Trump vowed friendship with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Sunday despite their trade differences. The U.S. president and his aides sought to tamp down market fears of a trade war between between the two economic giants.
“President Xi and I will always be friends, no matter what happens with our dispute on trade,” Trump said in a tweet in which he predicted that the United States would prevail and reach agreements with China on trade disputes.
“China will take down its Trade Barriers because it is the right thing to do,” the president wrote. “Taxes will become Reciprocal & a deal will be made on Intellectual Property. Great future for both countries!”
Trump has said the trade dispute may generate “a little pain” in the short term, including losses on Wall Street.
China has denied American accusations of unfair trade practices and vowed to retaliate if the United States followed through on plans to impose new tariffs on Chinese goods, claims that have roiled global markets with fears that prices will rise and demand will slow worldwide.
In addition to threatening penalties on American goods, China asked the business community in the United States and elsewhere to protest the planned Trump tariffs.
“We call on the international business community, including the United States industrial and commercial circles, to take prompt and effective measures and urge the U.S. government to correct its errors,” said state newspaper People’s Daily.
As Trump tweeted, aides hit the Sunday news shows to downplay fears of a trade war with China.
Larry Kudlow, the new director of the National Economic Council, said the tariff threats are part of a negotiating tactic designed to pressure China to end unfair trade practices. Kudlow said tariffs have been only proposed and are undergoing a public preview process. No final decisions have been made.
“It’s a long process,” Kudlow told Fox News Sunday. “So far, no tariffs and no action have been enacted.”
Though he called China’s response “highly unsatisfactory,” Kudlow said, “We’re not going to end up in a trade war.”
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said on NBC’s Meet the Press that “we’re moving forward in a measured way.”
Though White House officials have offered similar reassurances in recent weeks, threats and counterthreats have increased fears. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 572 points Friday.
Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., told Fox News Sunday he doesn’t oppose tariffs on China, but Trump’s approach looks like “chaos” and has “left a lot of Americans with uncertainty.”
The China trade debate should be handled in “a much more calculated way,” Crowley said.
The U.S. and China have long criticized each other over trade, but the stakes have grown over the past month.
The latest round began March 22 when the Trump administration announced plans for tariffs of up to $60 billion on goods from China, in response to what the White House called Chinese theft of U.S. trade secrets, including state-of-the-art technology.
Hours later, China responded with plans for up to $3 billion of tariffs on American goods.
Last week, the United States vowed to target Chinese-made medical devices, aircraft parts and flat-screen televisions with up to $50 billion in tariffs.
China responded with a $50 billion threat on American products that include soybeans, small aircraft and orange juice, a list that targeted states that supported Trump in the 2016 presidential election and would be important in a
2020 re-election bid.
Trump ordered his administration to consider $100 billion in new tariffs in response to Chinese retaliation.
In another tweet Saturday, Trump again declared Chinese trade practices were unfair.
“The United States hasn’t had a Trade Surplus with China in 40 years,” he wrote. “They must end unfair trade, take down barriers and charge only Reciprocal Tariffs. The U.S. is losing
$500 Billion a year, and has been losing Billions of Dollars for decades. Cannot continue!”
China has denied American accusations of unfair trade practices and vowed to retaliate if the United States followed through on plans to impose tariffs on Chinese goods, claims that have roiled global markets with fears that prices will rise and demand will slow worldwide.