Trump says 'ball is in China's court' amid simmering tariff dispute
'China needs to make a deal with us. We don't have to make a deal with them,' says US president
WASHINGTON
President Donald Trump believes China, not the US, needs to step forward to open trade negotiations, the White House said Tuesday as the world's top two economies engage in a spiraling tariff war.
"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," Trump said in a statement read aloud to reporters by spokesperson Karoline Leavitt. "There's no difference between China and any other country, except they are much larger and China wants what we have.”
Leavitt added that the “president, again, has made it quite clear that he's open to a deal with China, but China needs to make a deal with the United States," he added.
Trump earlier this year increased tariffs on China because of the flow of illicit fentanyl and its ingredients into the US. He greatly increased the import duties this month as he rolled out his reciprocal tariff policy, hitting China with a 125% rate.
Combined with the existing 20% fentanyl tariffs, China's tariff rate has now hit 145%.
