Donald Trump believes it is up to China, not the United States, to come to the negotiating table on trade, the White House said Tuesday, after the US president accused Beijing of reneging on a major Boeing deal.
“The ball is in China’s court. China needs to make a deal with us. We don’t have to make a deal with them,” said a statement from Trump read out by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt at a briefing.
“There’s no difference between China and any other country except they are much larger,” she added.
Leavitt’s comments came after Trump accused China of going back on a major deal with US aviation giant Boeing — following a Bloomberg news report that Beijing ordered airlines not to take further deliveries of the company’s jets.
The report also said that Beijing requested Chinese carriers to pause purchases of aircraft-related equipment and parts from US firms.
“They just reneged on the big Boeing deal, saying that they will ‘not take possession’ of fully committed to aircraft,” said Trump in a Truth Social post, referring to China.
He did not provide further details on the Boeing agreement he was referring to.
Trump has slapped new tariffs on friend and foe since returning to the presidency this year, but has reserved his heaviest blows for China — imposing additional 145 percent levies on many Chinese imports.
– ‘Zero respect’ –
Trump took aim at Beijing again on Tuesday, saying on Truth Social that China did not fulfill its commitments under an earlier trade deal. He appeared to be referencing a pact that marked a truce in both sides’ escalating tariff war during his first term.
The US president said China bought only “a portion of what they agreed to buy,” charging that Beijing had “zero respect” for his predecessor Joe Biden’s administration.
Trump also vowed to protect US farmers in the same post, noting that they were often “put on the Front Line with our adversaries, such as China,” when there were trade tussles.
Later on Tuesday, Leavitt maintained that Trump remained open to a deal with Beijing.
She stressed, however, that it was China that needed to step forward first, pointing to the strength of the US consumer market as leverage.
Since the start of the year, Trump has imposed steep duties on imports from China, alongside a 10 percent “baseline” tariff on many US trading partners.
His administration recently widened exemptions from these tariffs, excluding certain tech products like smartphones and laptops from the global 10 percent tariff and latest 125 percent levy on China.
Many Chinese imports still face the total 145 percent additional tariff, or at least an earlier 20 percent levy that Trump rolled out over China’s alleged role in the fentanyl supply chain.
In response, Beijing has introduced counter-tariffs targeting US agricultural goods, and it later retaliated with a sweeping 125 percent levy of its own on imported US products.
China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to AFP queries on the aircraft deliveries, and Boeing has declined to comment on the Bloomberg report.
Boeing shares were around 1.7 percent lower on Tuesday afternoon.