Growing strains in US-China relations over implementation of agreement to roll back tariffs and trade restrictions.
United States President Donald Trump has said his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, is tough and “extremely hard to make a deal with”, days after he accused China of violating an agreement to roll back tariffs and trade restrictions.
“I like President Xi of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social online platform on Wednesday, amid growing tensions between the two nations over their tariff truce.
On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had said Trump would speak with Xi to iron out differences on last month’s tariff agreement, among larger trade issues.
In May, American and Chinese negotiators had struck a deal in Geneva that lowered US tariffs on goods from China from 145 percent to 30 percent. In exchange, China dropped its tariffs on US goods from 125 percent to 10 percent.
Analysts had described the agreement as unexpected, pointing out that the two sides had been so widely apart on their tariff dispute. Still, the deal was seen as a welcome development averting a bigger showdown that unnerved the global market.
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But on Monday, China’s Ministry of Commerce said the US has “severely violated” the deal, adding that it would take steps to defend its interests.
US violations included the halting sales of computer chip design software to Chinese companies, the blocking of usage of Chinese-made chips from the tech giant Huawei, as well as the cancellation of visas for Chinese students, the Commerce Ministry said.
The ministry also said US actions severely violate an agreement reached in January during an earlier phone call between Xi and Trump.
Trump had also ranted on social media last week, accusing Beijing of “totally” violating the agreement with the US.
He did not specify which provisions in the May tariffs deal were violated. But US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer was later quoted in media reports as saying Beijing had failed to remove non-tariff barriers levied against the US, as agreed under the deal.
Last week, a US trade court ruled that Trump overstepped his authority in imposing the bulk of his tariffs on imports from China and other countries under an emergency powers act.
Less than 24 hours later, a federal appeals court reinstated it, saying it was considering the government’s appeal.