Reuters: Beijing accuses Washington of 'misleading the public' about trade talks

[volklopposition]

China's foreign ministry urged Washington on Friday to stop "misleading the public" on bilateral tariff negotiations, and said it wasn't familiar with reports on whether Beijing was planning to exempt tariffs on some U.S. imports.

"The United States and China are not engaged in consultations or talks on the tariff issue," Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for the ministry, said at a press briefing.

U.S. President Donald Trump asserted on Thursday that trade talks between the two countries were underway, after both China's foreign ministry and commerce ministry denied such negotiations.

https://www.reuters.com/world/beijing-a ... 025-04-25/

Who do you believe?

[XtremeJibber2001]

China's foreign ministry urged Washington on Friday to stop "misleading the public" on bilateral tariff negotiations, and said it wasn't familiar with reports on whether Beijing was planning to exempt tariffs on some U.S. imports.

"The United States and China are not engaged in consultations or talks on the tariff issue," Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for the ministry, said at a press briefing.

U.S. President Donald Trump asserted on Thursday that trade talks between the two countries were underway, after both China's foreign ministry and commerce ministry denied such negotiations.

https://www.reuters.com/world/beijing-a ... 025-04-25/

Who do you believe?

I don't believe either of them, but I would find it surprising that China is negotiating at this point. China has most the leverage, more so once shelves at big box are empty and front page news here in the USA.

It's also not clear why China would be actively cancelling shipments if negotiations were underway.

[easyrider16]

Trump was quite cagey in his responses to media questions. At one point I heard a clip of him saying something like, "they were meeting this morning, I can't tell you who" which sounds incredibly bullshitty.

My suspicion is that Chinese officials are meeting with U.S. officials but they aren't really negotiating anything, at best maybe a meet-and-greet sort of thing. I think China has made their demands and they're not going to cave until those demands are met. I think eventually Trump will cave because if he doesn't, you're going to see empty shelves and lots of pissed off citizens in the USA. In China the government can ignore its pissed-off citizens to a much greater degree than the USA can, and they have the added advantage of being able to blame the USA for starting the trade war. Also, China's demands really aren't onerous - drop the tariffs and send Bessent to negotiate a deal. They actually seem like the reasonable party, here.

It is comical how Trump said that China played it wrong by retaliating. Trump's incompetence is pretty evident here. He's not wrong to take on China but he should have built alliances with China's trading partners to offer them alternatives to trading with China and thereby isolating China. Instead he basically alienated everyone and isolated the USA.

[Bubba]

It is comical how Trump said that China played it wrong by retaliating. Trump's incompetence is pretty evident here. He's not wrong to take on China but he should have built alliances with China's trading partners to offer them alternatives to trading with China and thereby isolating China. Instead he basically alienated everyone and isolated the USA.

His incompetence in dealing with China was amply demonstrated during his first administration when he canceled the Asian trading pact (can't recall the name) negotiated by the Obama administration that excluded and isolated China while strengthening our ties to others in east Asia.

[easyrider16]

Yes, that and the withdrawal from the Iran agreement on nuclear weapons, which Biden tried to fix and couldn't, and now Trump is trying to fix it. Trump is like an onion, layers upon layers of incompetence.

[Low Rider]

You mean the Iran nuclear deal that was working well which Trump withdrew from and now Iran as closer than ever to a nuclear weapon?

Trump is a moron and so is everyone that voted for him

[asher2789]

im team china, trumps just lying to save face and his supporters are dumb enough to believe him

[easyrider16]

Trump's biggest problem is that he's a lame duck, and he knows it. He's trying to get as much done as quickly as possible because he knows in less than two years his ability to do anything goes to nearly zero. China and Russia and every other country knows this - all they have to do is run out the clock.

GOP was incredibly stupid to nominate a lame duck.

[asher2789]

Trump's biggest problem is that he's a lame duck, and he knows it. He's trying to get as much done as quickly as possible because he knows in less than two years his ability to do anything goes to nearly zero. China and Russia and every other country knows this - all they have to do is run out the clock.

GOP was incredibly stupid to nominate a lame duck.

does he though?