Trump’s Twitter post came after White House officials confirmed that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had offered a formal invitation to Chinese leaders to restart trade talks
President Donald Trump on Thursday cast doubt on the possibility of a breakthrough in trade talks with China, saying he was prepared to hammer China’s economy with tough new economic penalties if Beijing does not offer concessions.
“We are under no pressure to make a deal with China,” Trump wrote on Twitter, trying to dispute reports that he was seeking to cut a deal. “They are under pressure to make a deal with us. Our markets are surging, theirs are collapsing. We will soon be taking Billions in Tariffs & making products at home. If we meet, we meet?”
The Twitter post came after White House officials confirmed that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had offered a formal invitation to Chinese leaders to restart trade talks, aimed at de-escalating the trade battle between the world’s largest economies.
Trump’s Twitter post is consistent with his recent bravado toward China, but it could make Chinese leaders dubious that Trump will be willing to negotiate a deal.
Talks between both countries have already broken down several times, at least once because Trump balked at a deal at the last moment.
On Wednesday, White House officials had seemed optimistic at the potential for new talks.
“Well, it’s just an invitation, as far as I know,” White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said on Fox Business Network. “There’s some discussions and information that we received that the Chinese Government – the top of the Chinese Government wished to pursue talks.”
Kudlow would not estimate where the discussions might lead, but he said it was a positive sign that they were even occurring.
“I always believe, in most cases, talking is better than not talking, so I regard this as a plus,” Kudlow said.
Any talks would resume amid doubts over prospects for a diplomatic settlement. The administration remains split between trade hardliners and officials who are more sensitive to corporations’ fears of lost sales and disrupted supply chains.
