Trump threatens to lift tariffs on Chinese goods ahead of trade talks

Days after reiterating that trade talks with Beijing were going well, US President Donald Trump on Sunday renewed threats to increase tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods.

The announcement by the US President comes ahead of a critical week of negotiations between the two countries to end a longstanding trade war, reported CNN.

Suggesting that he was not satisfied with the pace of negotiations, Trump warned that he would lift tariffs on Friday on $200 billion of Chinese goods to 25 per cent from the current threshold at 10 per cent, as well as tax nearly all of the Chinese exports to the United States.

In a pair of tweets on Sunday, Trump wrote, "For 10 months, China has been paying Tariffs to the USA of 25% on 50 Billion Dollars of High Tech, and 10% on 200 Billion Dollars of other goods. These payments are partially responsible for our great economic results. The 10% will go up to 25% on Friday."

" 325 Billion dollars of additional goods sent to us by China remain untaxed but will be shortly, at a rate of 25%. The Tariffs paid to the USA have had little impact on product cost, mostly borne by China. The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No!" He added.

On Friday, Trump had expressed optimism over the possibility of a trade deal with China soon. "The deal itself is going along pretty well," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday. "I would even say very well, we'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks. We're getting close to a very historic, monumental deal and if it doesn't happen, we'll be fine too, maybe even better."

The Trump administration has been reluctant both privately and publicly to remove tariffs on China as a way to provide leverage that Beijing will keep its promises as part of any negotiation.