US President Donald Trump said that high-level tariff threats against China are not feasible, reports "Bloomberg".
Tensions between the world's two largest economies are escalating ahead of his expected meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
"This is not sustainable," Trump stressed in an interview in response to a question about whether the tariffs he threatened to impose on China could remain in place without significantly hurting the economy. "But that's the number, it's probably not, you know, it could stay, but they forced me to do it," he said.
The tariff clash between Washington and Beijing has seen US tariffs on Chinese goods rise to 145%. The retaliation has raised fears of a global recession and a disruption in trade between the two economies. But those tariffs have been suspended in a series of 90-day truces, the latest of which expires on November 10 unless extended again.
The pause was intended to give the United States and China time to resolve broader trade disputes, but those efforts have backfired as Washington expanded some restrictions on technology and proposed tariffs on Chinese ships entering U.S. ports, and Beijing responded with similar steps and outlined tighter controls on rare earth exports.
Last week, Trump threatened an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods from November 1 and suggested canceling a planned meeting with Xi, which was expected to be on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea later this month.
"I get along great with him," Trump now says of Xi.
"I think we're going to do well with China, but we have to have a fair deal. It has to be fair," he stressed.
Regarding the tensions between the United States and China, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett expressed "great confidence" that Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Besant "will be able to get together with the Chinese and get things back to a level that is good for both countries."