WASHINGTON (US) – President Donald Trump on Thursday reiterated his threat to cut ties with China, a day after his top diplomats held discussions with Beijing and his trade representative said he did not consider decoupling the US and Chinese economies a viable option.
The top US diplomat for East Asia termed US-China relations as “tense” after their first high-level face-to-face diplomatic meeting in months, although he said Beijing did recommit to the first part of a trade deal reached this year and that coming weeks would show if there had been progress.
Re-balancing the enormous US trade deficit with China is Trump’s top priority, but relations have worsened steadily as his campaign for re-election in November heats up.
“It was not Ambassador Lighthizer’s fault (yesterday in Committee) in that perhaps I didn’t make myself clear,” Trump said in a tweet referring to his trade representative, Robert Lighthizer.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field