White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump is « optimistic » about a China deal, even though he and Xi haven’t spoken.
A reporter grilled White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday about the U.S.’s escalating tariff war with China and why President Donald Trump doesn’t call Chinese President Xi Jinping to strike a trade deal.
The questions came after China slapped a 125 percent retaliatory tariff on U.S. imports in response to the U.S. raising tariffs on China to 145 percent.
China’s decision came hours after White House officials reportedly called their counterparts in Beijing, warned them not to retaliate and told them to have Xi request a phone call with Trump to negotiate a trade deal.
Instead, China responded by hiking its tariffs on the U.S. to 125 percent and Xi dug his heels in publicly, saying China will « never » rely « on handouts from others, and it is not afraid of any unjust suppression.
