So, things between the US and China are still a bit tense. Even with all the back-and-forth, China’s not exactly backing off.
China doesn’t seem to be backing down from the US tariff war
Trump might’ve hyped up his wins with China a little too much, provoking China to hit right back in the middle of this trade war.
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Trump dropped a tariff bomb on ‘Liberation Day’
That’s the day he revealed this massive economic plan. Loads of new tariffs were either being added or hiked for countries all over the world.
As expected, China got hit hard and didn’t really take it lightly
China was already dealing with 25% tariffs, and then Trump boosted that to a total of 54% on Liberation Day. Obviously, that didn’t sit well with them.
China didn’t just shrug it off, they hit back fast
They slapped 15% tariffs on US farm stuff, 10% on crude oil and machinery, and a big 34% on all US goods.
Of course, Trump fired back with massive tariff hikes
So Trump answered back, raising China’s tariff rate first to 145%, then all the way up to 245%. He also pressed pause on tariffs for the rest of the world—for 90 days. Meanwhile, China bumped up tariffs on all US imports to 125%, and started holding back rare earth exports too.
Neither Trump nor Xi is ready to back down
China said they’re “ready to fight till the end,” and Trump keeps saying China’s “played it wrong.”
But when reporters asked about all this, Trump softened his tone. Said he didn’t want to go full hardball and was hopeful they’d figure things out.
Trump then claimed Xi called him but doesn’t really say any details
Then on Tuesday, April 22, Trump said: “No, no, we’re going to be very nice. They’re going to be very nice, and we’ll see what happens. But ultimately, they have to make a deal, because otherwise they’re not going to be able to deal in the United States, and we want them involved.”
Few days later, he said he’d spoken to Xi recently, but didn’t really say much about what was said. Then in an interview with Time on April 25, he added: “He’s called. And I don’t think that’s a sign of weakness on his behalf.”
China says the call never happened
China shut that down quick. According to Reuters, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said: “As far as I know, the two heads of state have not called each other recently. I want to reiterate that China and the United States are not engaged in consultations or negotiations on the tariff issue.”
Last confirmed call was months ago
CNN backed that up, reporting the last confirmed call between the two was way back on January 17 before Trump even took office again.
