U.S. President Donald Trump claimed on Thursday that the United States and China had engaged in trade discussions, even as Beijing denied any such negotiations on tariffs.
Despite this contradiction, global investors seemed optimistic, with stock markets rebounding from early April losses amid signs of a potential de-escalation in the ongoing trade conflict.
Trump, during a meeting with Norway’s Prime Minister at the White House, stated: “They had a meeting this morning,” referring to the alleged trade talks with China. However, he did not name the Chinese representative involved, adding, “It doesn’t matter who ‘they’ is. We may reveal it later, but they had meetings this morning, and we’ve been meeting with China.”
Earlier in the day, China’s Ministry of Commerce spokesperson He Yadong countered Trump’s claim, asserting there were no current negotiations with the U.S. over tariffs. He said, “China has taken note of some recent reports in foreign media… As the authority responsible for foreign trade and economic relations, I would like to emphasise that there are currently no trade negotiations taking place between China and the United States. Any claims about progress in China-US trade talks are purely speculative and have no factual basis.”
In a related move, Trump had previously mentioned his intention to reduce tariffs on Chinese goods “substantially, but they won’t be zero.” Currently, U.S. tariffs on Chinese products stand at 145%, with China retaliating with 125% tariffs on U.S. goods, as well as other non-tariff measures like restricting rare earth exports and halting Boeing aircraft purchases.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration was contemplating reducing tariffs to between 50% and 65%. When asked about this potential reduction, He responded: “If the US truly wants to resolve the issues, it should heed the rational voices of the international community and various domestic sectors, completely remove all unilateral tariff measures against China, and seek to resolve differences through equal dialogue.”
Later in the day, Trump took to Truth Social, writing: “Boeing should default China for not taking the beautifully finished planes that China committed to purchase. This is just a small example of what China has done to the USA, for years…” He also posted, “Fentanyl continues to pour into our Country from China, through Mexico and Canada, killing hundreds of thousands of our people, and it better stop, NOW!” In February, Trump imposed 20% tariffs on China and 25% on Canada and Mexico in response to fentanyl trafficking.
