The Washington administration is ready to make fair trade deals with both China and other countries, including EU countries, US President Donald Trump told reporters.
"Everybody will get a fair deal. They weren't fair to the US. They got ripped off. It can't be like that," Trump added. “It's no coincidence that our national debt is $36 trillion. We have been treated unfairly for years, but we have allowed this to happen," he stressed.
“But our country is much stronger than people realize“, Trump continued. “We have weapons that no one even knows about, they are the most powerful weapons in the world, they are more powerful than anything anyone has ever seen“, the head of state said.
Trump believes that the increase in trade tariffs by Washington and Beijing does not threaten a further escalation of the confrontation between the two countries.
The American president is ready to hold a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “Of course. He is my friend. I like him. I respect him. He will want to make a deal. He is a very smart man and we will make a very good deal for both of us. He is a man who knows exactly what he wants and loves his country“, Trump said.
And he said that the TikTok deal would be delayed until the US-China trade dispute is resolved.
“Obviously, China is not very eager to sign right now. We have an agreement with some very good people, with some very wealthy companies, who will do a very good job of this task. But we will have to wait and see what happens next with China“, he said.
On April 2, Trump announced the introduction of tariffs on products from 185 countries and territories. Regarding China, US tariffs were set at 34%. In response, the Chinese authorities announced that they would impose additional tariffs of 34% on all products imported from the United States starting April 10.
Later, Trump announced that the United States would impose a 104% tariff on Chinese products until the Chinese government agrees to a trade deal with the United States. In response, China raised tariffs on American goods from 34% to 84%. On Wednesday, Trump announced an increase in import tariffs on China to 125%.
Trump signed an executive order after taking office on January 20 that postponed the blocking of the platform in the country until April 5. On April 4, he signed an order extending the social network's operation in the country for another 75 days.
„White House officials acknowledge that a potential deal for TikTok's American assets - a sale by China to a US company - "is out for the foreseeable future, and perhaps forever, because of the China-focused trade war," said Fox Business journalist Charles Gasparino.
Earlier, Reuters reported, citing its sources, that the deal for TikTok's assets had fallen through. According to the agency, the agreement was approved by the Chinese Internet holding ByteDance, which owns TikTok, and the US government. The deal involves the transfer of the platform's operations to a new company based in the US and owned mostly by American investors.
The US administration expects the European Union to again postpone the increase in import duties on American products. This was announced by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, answering questions from journalists at the White House.
"The president said that the retaliatory tariffs will go up to 10%, and if Canada decides to keep the retaliatory measures, I think, looking at what's happening with China, that would be a very, very bad choice. You know, Europe has imposed retaliatory tariffs, but they said they wouldn't go into effect for a couple of weeks, right? And I think what will happen is that they will be delayed for 90 days so that they have time to negotiate with our president without anything hanging over their heads,“, he said.