US President Donald Trump has that China should act now in terms of the ongoing Sino-US trade talks or the deal could become “far worse”.
He tweeted on Saturday the trade has to be re-negotiated in his second presidential term.
On Friday, the Trump administration increased the level of tariffs from 10 to 25 per cent on some $200 billion in Chinese imports. Later that day, Trump ordered tariffs to be raised on all remaining US imports from China, which are valued at around $300 billion.
Trump added that the latest tariffs, which went into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, would produce “massive payments” that would go directly to the US Treasury Department.
The latest round of US-Chinese trade talks finished in the United States on Friday.
The sides have not reached any deal but agreed to meet for further negotiations in Beijing.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, who led the Chinese delegation to Washington for bilateral talks, said that Beijing will be forced to retaliate but hopes Washington would exercise restraint.
Washington and Beijing have been trying to overcome disagreements that emerged in the wake of Trump’s decision last June to impose 25 per cent tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods in a bid to fix the US-Chinese trade deficit.
Since then, the sides have exchanged several rounds of trade duties.
