President Donald Trump has expressed strong disapproval towards China, accusing the nation of ‘violating’ their trade agreement.
Recently, China and the US had agreed to a brief trade truce, following a period where leaders of both countries imposed significant tariffs on each other’s imports.
This truce, however, seems to be at risk of collapsing.
Yesterday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is responsible for negotiating a trade deal between the two countries, informed Fox News that the trade discussions are currently ‘a bit stalled’.
He mentioned, “I think that given the magnitude of the talks, given the complexity, that this is going to require [leaders of both the countries] to weigh in with each other.”
Bessent successfully negotiated the truce after discussions with Chinese officials in Geneva, announcing that both nations had agreed to a ’90-day pause’ on tariffs.
Today (May 30), on Truth Social, Trump criticized Chinese President Xi Jinping and his government for allegedly failing to honor the 90-day tariff truce.
The 78-year-old Republican commented: “Two weeks ago China was in grave economic danger! The very high Tariffs I set made it virtually impossible for China to TRADE into the United States marketplace which is, by far, number one in the World.
“We went, in effect, COLD TURKEY with China, and it was devastating for them. Many factories closed and there was, to put it mildly, ‘civil unrest.’ I saw what was happening and didn’t like it, for them, not for us.
“I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation, and I didn’t want to see that happen. Because of this deal, everything quickly stabilized and China got back to business as usual. Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!!”
He further stated: “The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!”
Since Trump declared April 2 as ‘Liberation Day’ for the US, initiating tariffs on various countries worldwide, the two nations have been embroiled in a trade war.
China was most affected by the President’s tariffs, with some items facing tariffs as high as 145 percent.
In response, and despite Trump’s warnings, China announced its own counter-tariffs, reaching up to 125 percent.
It is still unclear what the future holds for the levies on imports from each country in light of Trump’s allegations.