Trump Says US Is In a Trade War With China Already: No Waiting ‘Til November
President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the United States is already in a trade war with China, weeks ahead of a planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.
The president made the ear-catching comment during a press conference at the White House.
“You’re meeting with President Xi in a few weeks, if you can’t come to an agreement or a deal at that meeting, are we in for a sustained trade war with China?” asked Time’s Nik Popli.
“Well, you’re in one now,” Trump responded.
He continued: “Look, we have 100% tariff — if we didn’t have tariffs, we would be exposed as being a nothing. We would have no defense. You know they’ve used tariffs on us. But we’ve never had anybody sitting in [the president’s] chair who felt the need to do it.”
President Trump added that tariffs are “very important for national security.”
He said a good example was when he threatened Iran and Pakistan with a 200% tariff earlier this year — a threat, Trump said, that deterred the two countries from fighting.
“That would have been a nuclear war,” Trump said.
The president’s comment was made at 4:26 p.m. ET — 26 minutes after stocks ended trading on Wall Street for the day.
Trump last week said he would be slapping a new 100% tariff on China, on top of the 30% tariff already in place, starting Nov. 1. He made that announcement after China tightened its rules on rare earth minerals, forcing exporters to obtain a license from the government.
That Nov. 1 date coincides with Trump’s expected meeting with Xi at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, which is taking place on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.
Wall Street clearly did not love that news from Trump last Friday, with the S&P 500 dropping 2.71%, the Nasdaq dropping 3.56%, and the Dow Jones dropping 1.90%. Markets have rebounded this week, after the president on Sunday signaled a full-blown trade battle with China would not happen.
“Don’t worry about China, it will all be fine! Highly respected President Xi just had a bad moment,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday. “He doesn’t want Depression for his country, and neither do I. The U.S.A. wants to help China, not hurt it!!! President DJT.”
The market bounce-back was also helped by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying on Tuesday that Trump was still on track to meet with Xi. Bessent added that the U.S.-China trade relationship was “good” and that lines of communication between the two countries had been “reopened.”
Wall Street’s big moves over the past week have been reminiscent of early April, when the president announced his “Liberation Day” tariff plan.
The Nasdaq, S&P 500, and Dow Jones all took big hits immediately after, but the markets have since shrugged off those initial concerns, with the three major indexes all surging between 16% to 39% in the last six months.
It will be worth watching how Wall Street reacts on Thursday morning — and in the few weeks leading up to the Trump-Xi summit.
You can watch the president discuss China and tariffs above, via Fox News.
