WASHINGTON, Aug 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Donald Trump cast more doubt on chances for a trade deal with Beijing, signalling he might cancel talks set for September amid an intensifying US-China trade war.
“We’ll see whether or not we keep our meeting in September,” Trump told reporters at the White House before heading out for fundraisers in New York and then vacation at his New Jersey golf resort.
Relations have soured further in the past week after Trump announced a new round of punitive tariffs on Chinese goods, despite a truce agreed with President Xi Jinping in May, and Beijing responded by halting all purchases of US agricultural goods.
The US Treasury then declared China a currency manipulator, after the yuan lost value in the face of the new round of tariffs due to take effect Sept 1.
“We’re not ready to make a deal but we’ll see what happens,” Trump said. “We have all the cards. We’re doing well.”
US and Chinese negotiators met in Shanghai in late July for the first time since talks collapsed in May, and were due to hold another round in September.
“Whether or not they’re cancelled, we’ll see,” Trump said.
He also said the US will not do business with Chinese tech titan Huawei, despite earlier pledges to allow American firms to file for waivers from national security restrictions on the company’s operations.
The countries have imposed tariffs on US$360 billion in two-way trade, and with the new round announced by Trump all Chinese goods would be subject to punishing duties.
Beijing on Monday allowed the yuan to sink below seven to the dollar – a key psychological threshold – but then intervened to halt the decline.
Trump again accused the country of “depressing their currency,” but his comments on the trade talks sent the exchange rate even lower.
An IMF official said that allowing the currency to adjust freely to economic factors is one of its recommendations to Beijing.
James Daniel, the IMF’s mission chief to China, said the situation “requires some kind of response.”
China’s currency “should remain flexible and market-determined,” which would mean “less intervention,” he told reporters. — NNN-AGENCIES
