Washington: President Trump says that he wants an “fair” trade agreement with China, but we still don’t know when the two parties will break the deadlock.
Addressing journalists in Washington on Wednesday, Trump said that the talks with Beijing were underway and that the two countries could conclude an agreement. But senior American officials did not give any clear response to the way or the moment that current prices could be reduced.
Trump told journalists that his country would have a good agreement with China “, adding that” everything is active “when asked if Washington spoke to Beijing.
However, how long the prices could be lowered “depends on them,” said Trump, referring to Beijing, even if he argued that he is heard “very well” with Chinese President Xi Jinping and hopes that they will be able to reach an agreement.
Trade tensions between the two largest economies in the world have skyrocketed while Trump increased imports from imports from China this year, imposing an additional 145% rate on many products about Washington practices deemed unfair and other problems.
Beijing, in turn, retaliated with new fares of 125% on American products.
Despite the signals that Washington turns to a fair agreement, the state of discussions remains troubled.
When asked if there were direct American contacts with China on trade, Trump said: “Every day”.
However, earlier Wednesday, the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told journalists that the two countries were not talking about “when it comes to reducing prices.
“I think the two parties are waiting to talk about the other,” he said at an event on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank’s Spring Meetings in Washington.
He added that there is no unilateral offer from Trump to reduce tasks on Chinese products.
‘An embargo’
Bessent said the incredibly high prices that the two countries have imposed on the other’s goods had to drop before negotiations could occur.
“I do not think that the two parties believe that the current rate levels are durable, so I would not be surprised if they fell in a mutual manner,” he added on the sidelines of an international financing forum.
“It is the equivalent of an embargo, and a break between the two countries of the trade is not suitable for the interest of anyone,” said Bessent, stressing that “de -escalation on both sides is possible”.
But he did not give a delay on the speed with which bilateral discussions could take place.
“It is both a blessing and a curse that the strongest relationship is at the top,” said Bessent, referring to Trump’s ties with the Chinese counterpart XI. However, with “all de -escalation, the talks would not start at the top”.
Although Trump quickly deployed net prices in different countries and sectors, he also quickly introduced certain exemptions – more recently a temporary stay for technological products such as smartphones and flea manufacturing tools.
He could widen the sculptures, reported the Financial Times on Wednesday, saying Trump could exempt the automotive parts of certain prices on Chinese imports – alongside those in steel and aluminum.
Trump said on Wednesday afternoon that he did not consider changes in American car rates, but noted that samples in Canada could increase in terms of cars.
In addition, Bessent said on Wednesday that he had no position to find out if the president had the power to dismiss the president of the federal reserve Jerome Powell if he wanted.
He suggested that Trump’s previous comment that Powell’s “termination” could not come quickly enough could also refer to the end of the mandate of the Fed chief.
Earlier Wednesday, Bessent said in a speech that the economic model reduced by the export of Beijing was “unbearable” and “not only harmful to China, but all over the world”.
He highlighted the concerns about the commercial imbalances that the Trump administration says that it hopes to approach through radical rates.
But Bessent argued that “America does not first mean America alone”.
He insisted that the movements of the administration are generally a call for more in -depth collaboration and a mutual respect among the business partners, while targeting political choices by other countries which, according to him, have widened American manufacturing and endangered in danger.
