President Donald Trump admitted that his recent threat against China is severe as tensions between the two countries have intensified.
During a snippet of an interview with Fox News, released Friday, Trump was pressed by “Sunday Morning Futures” anchor Maria Bartiromo about his potential decision to hit the world’s second largest economy with 100% tariffs on Nov. 1 or sooner.
Bartiromo asked Trump directly: “If you put that 100% tariff on top of what’s in place already, you’d have a 157% tariff on China. Can that stand? What is that gonna do to the economy?”
Trump acknowledged that the rate is “not sustainable, but that’s what the number is.”
“It’s probably not. You know, it could stand. But they forced me to do that,” Trump said, before adding: “I think we’re going to be fine with China.”
Trump went on to say that he is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a “couple of weeks” at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea, calling the country’s leader “very strong” and an “amazing man.”
“We have to have a fair deal,” Trump said amid fears of a cutoff in trade. “It’s got to be fair.”
He added: “China has ripped us off from day one.”
After tit-for-tat tariffs between the two nations had climbed to 145%, levies were paused as negotiators have met to come to a trade deal ahead of Nov. 10 when the truces are set to expire, unless extended.
Trump’s latest threat comes as China had ramped up restrictions earlier this month on exports of its rare earths minerals, which make up around 70% of the global supply. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump described the curb as ” an extraordinarily aggressive position on Trade,” saying that the United States will slap on the additional tariff, as well as export controls on “any and all critical software.”
“It is impossible to believe that China would have taken such an action, but they have, and the rest is History,” Trump wrote.
Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, fired back on Monday, saying that the United States is not “reflecting on its own mistakes,” according to The Washington Post.
China also drew the ire of Trump this week, with the president claiming on social media that Beijing is “purposefully” not purchasing U.S. soybeans, which has caused “difficulty for our Soybean Farmers.” After Trump floated his new tariff rate, China responded by shifting purchasing to countries including Brazil and Argentina as its large exporters. It also has implemented a 20% retaliatory tariff on U.S. soybeans.
“We are considering terminating business with China having to do with Cooking Oil, and other elements of Trade, as retribution,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday. “As an example, we can easily produce Cooking Oil ourselves, we don’t need to purchase it from China.”
Caleb Raglan, the president of the American Soybean Association, warned last month that U.S. soybean prices are falling as harvest is underway.
“U.S. soybean farmers have been clear for months: the administration needs to secure a trade deal with China,” Raglan said in a statement. “China is the world’s largest soybean customer and typically our top export market.”
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