Speaking to reporters as he met South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in Washington, Trump pointed to recent talks with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping: “At some point, probably during this year or shortly thereafter, we’ll go to China.”
“We’re going to have a great relationship with China,” Trump vowed.
The US leader added, “They have some cards. We have incredible cards, but I don’t want to play those cards. If I played those cards, that would destroy China.”
Tensions between the world’s two biggest economies have been simmering this year, but have significantly cooled since April, when both countries slapped escalating tariffs on each other’s exports.
At one point, the tit-for-tat duties reached triple digits on both sides, snarling supply chains as many importers halted shipments to try and wait for the governments to work things out.
Since then, Washington and Beijing have reached an agreement to de-escalate tensions, temporarily lowering tariffs to 30 per cent on the United States’ side and 10 per cent on China’s part.
