He even added that he would be "very nice" in negotiations with Beijing in the hope of securing a trade deal.
Trump’s shift in tone went viral on the Chinese Internet. On Wednesday, the hashtag “Trump chickened out” was trending as a top topic on social media platform Weibo, racking up more than 150 million views. Another popular hashtag was “Trump admitted defeat”!
But China's Commerce Ministry spokesperson He Yadong was adamant, maintaining the US should remove all "unilateral tariff measures" against China "if it truly wanted" to solve the issue.
Separately, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said China and the US had "not conducted consultations or negotiations on tariffs, let alone reached an agreement". He added that reports to the contrary were "false"!
Trump had previously said negotiations between the countries were "active" – but this was also contradicted by his treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, who said on Wednesday they had not yet begun. Still, Bessent said he saw an opportunity for a "big deal" between the US and China on trade.
Trump doubled down on his lies when he asserted on Thursday that trade talks between the US and China are underway, pushing back against Chinese claims that no discussions have taken place to ease the ongoing trade war.
Meanwhile, a dozen US states have joined together on a lawsuit which was filed with the United States Court of International Trade, aiming to block Trump's tariffs that have upended global trade.
The suit, which is led by New York's governor and attorney general, argues that the president lacked the authority to impose the levies. It states that tariffs must be approved by Congress and questioned Trump invoking a 1970s law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to enact the levies.
In fact, it argues that the law does not actually grant Trump the power he claims to derive from it. Congressional research shows that the act has never been used to issue tariffs by any president.
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