China has “totally violated” its agreement on tariffs with the US, President Trump said in a furious post on Truth Social today.
President Trump slammed America’s principal competitor for violating the agreement it made with the US two weeks ago in order to prevent what Trump called the “devastating” effects of his “Liberation Day” tariffs.
“Two weeks ago China was in grave economic danger!” The President posted.
“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!!! 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!”
The post comes after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said trade talks between the world’s two largest economies were “a bit stalled.”
Bessent said the intervention of Presidents Trump and Xi Jinping would probably be necessary to bring the talks over the finishing line. He said progress had been slow, but he expects more talks in the coming weeks.
The temporary truce, reached two weeks ago, resulted in a 90-day end to the 100%+ tariffs that both countries had imposed on each other. Markets reacted with great relief to the truce.
The US and China were on collision course for a trade war when President Trump announced 145% reciprocal tariffs on goods from China at the beginning of last month. In response, China slapped US goods with 125% tariffs and also started to squeeze supply of vital rare-earth minerals and magnets, the global supply of which China dominates.
However, the truce was only intended to be temporary and further negotiations will be needed to address the underlying causes of President Trump’s massive “reciprocal tariffs” on Chinese goods.