No plans to lower China's 145% tariffs to boost trade talks, says Trump

China said the US requested the upcoming trade talks, but remained firmly opposed to Trump's tariff hikes as Washington refuses to reduce duties ahead of negotiations

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (local time) said he would not consider lowering China's 145 per cent tariffs to initiate trade war negotiations with Beijing, CNBC reported.

 

When asked whether the White House was open to pulling back on the import duties to bring China to the negotiating table, Trump replied in the negative. His remarks come just days ahead of US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s scheduled meeting with his Chinese counterpart in Switzerland. The two are expected to discuss trade and economic issues. 

 

China, on Wednesday, stated that the meeting was requested by the US and that Beijing remained “firmly” opposed to Trump’s tariff hikes ahead of the proposed talks.

 

Media reports indicate that Trump rejected China's claim that the US initiated this week's trade dialogue in Switzerland. He said: “They said we initiated? Well, I think they ought to go back and study their files.” 

 

When asked what he expected from the proposed trade talks in Europe, Trump said: “We’ll see... we were losing a trillion dollars a year, now we’re not losing anything, you know? It’s the way I look at it.”

 

US-China trade war

 

It is worth noting that on Monday, during an interview with NBC, Trump said the tariffs on Chinese goods could be lowered eventually, after both Washington and Beijing seemed to soften their stance on trade talks.

 

During the interview, Trump acknowledged the effect of tariffs on China, stating that factory closures and unemployment there had been “through the roof.”

 

On 2 May, the spokesperson for the Chinese Commerce Ministry said Beijing was assessing proposals made by the US to initiate trade discussions, but insisted that Trump must first cancel his “unilateral tariff hikes”.

 

Trade talks between the two countries have largely stalled since the tariff war began. On 2 April, Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on more than 100 countries, along with a 10 per cent baseline tariff on all imports. While he imposed 34 per cent reciprocal tariffs on China, Beijing retaliated with tariffs of its own, deepening the trade conflict.