China Says US Must Drop All Tariffs If It Wants Talks

China on Thursday denied any suggestion that it was in active negotiations with the administration of President Trump over tariffs, saying that any notion of progress in the matter was as groundless as "trying to catch the wind," the AP reports. China's comments come after Trump said Tuesday that things were going "fine with China" and that the final tariff rate on Chinese exports would come down "substantially" from the current 145%.

• Guo Jiakun, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, said during a daily briefing on Thursday that, "For all I know, China and the US are not having any consultation or negotiation on tariffs, still less reaching a deal." Reports stating otherwise, he said, were "fake news."
• "Any claims about the progress of China-US trade negotiations are groundless as trying to catch the wind and have no factual basis," Commerce Ministry spokesman He Yadong said.

• Asked Thursday about China denying there were any conversations ongoing with the US, Trump said, "They had a meeting this morning," Reuters reports. "It doesn't matter who 'they' is," he said. "We may reveal it later, but they had meetings this morning, and we've been meeting with China."
• China said talks should involve the cancellation of all tariffs it currently faces. "The unilateral tariff increase measures were initiated by the United States," said He, the Commerce Ministry spokesman. "If the United States really wants to solve the problem, it should face up to the rational voices of the international community and all parties at home, completely cancel all unilateral tariff measures against China, and find ways to resolve differences through equal dialogue." The BBC reports that he added: "The person who tied the bell must untie it."
• Despite the economic measures leveled against China, Trump said Tuesday that he would be "very nice" and not play hardball with Chinese President Xi Jinping. "We're going to live together very happily and ideally work together," Trump said. In a Truth Social post Thursday, however, he slammed China "for not taking the beautifully finished planes that China committed to purchase." "This is just a small example of what China has done to the USA, for years," he said.

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