- President Trump says China is violating a recent trade deal and he's done being 'Mr. Nice Guy.'
- A temporary agreement was struck two weeks ago amid a growing trade war.
- The deal called for reductions of massive retaliatory tariffs on both sides for 90 days.
President Donald Trump took to social media Friday morning to register his displeasure with China’s trade conduct, claiming the Asian powerhouse is in violation of a recently struck agreement that saw massive retaliatory tariffs put on hold.
Trump said the temporary trade deal, reached after top U.S. and Chinese trade officials met in Geneva, Switzerland, two weeks ago, was a win for both countries but is now in jeopardy thanks to China’s violation of terms of the agreement.
“Two weeks ago China was in grave economic danger!,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “The very high Tariffs I set made it virtually impossible for China to TRADE into the United States marketplace which is, by far, number one in the World. We went, in effect, COLD TURKEY with China, and it was devastating for them. Many factories closed and there was, to put it mildly, “civil unrest.” I saw what was happening and didn’t like it, for them, not for us. I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation, and I didn’t want to see that happen.
“Because of this deal, everything quickly stabilized and China got back to business as usual. Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!! The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!”
What’s in the U.S.-China trade agreement?
In a deal announced May 12, both countries agreed to roll back reciprocal tariffs to a 10% rate for a 90-day period beginning May 14. Other, sector-specific U.S. trade levies on steel, aluminum and automobiles remained in place, as did a 20% tariff Trump announced earlier this year to address fentanyl trafficking.
The announcement followed two days of meetings in Geneva between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer with a delegation of Chinese officials.
“We had very productive talks and I believe that the venue, here in Lake Geneva, added great equanimity to what was a very positive process,” Bessent said when the deal was announced. “We have reached an agreement on a 90-day pause and substantially move down the tariff levels. Both sides on the reciprocal tariffs will move their tariffs down 115%.”
Trump, at the time, lauded the deal as “historic.”
“The talks in Geneva were very friendly, the relationship is very good,” the president said. “We’re not looking to hurt China. China was being hurt very badly. They were closing up factories, they were having a lot of unrest and they were very happy to be doing something with us.”
Trump also suggested the biggest win out of the negotiations was the possibility that China could be on the cusp of agreeing to creating broader access for American goods and businesses within Chinese borders.
“The biggest thing that we’re discussing is the opening up (of) China and they’ve agreed to do that but it’s going to take a while to paper it,” Trump said. “If we do get it, I think it’s the most important thing to have. We opened our country to China … and they didn’t open their country to us. They’ve agreed to open China, fully open China. I think it’s going to be great for unification and peace."
In comments made during a Friday interview with CNBC, Greer mirrored Trump’s allegation, saying “we’re very concerned with” China’s purported noncompliance with the temporary trade deal.
The “United States did exactly what it was supposed to do, and the Chinese are slow rolling their compliance,” Greer said.