Donald Trump on tit-for-tat China tariffs: ‘I don’t want them to go higher because…’

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that he was reluctant to continue ratcheting up tariffs on China as it could stall trade between the two countries.

“At a certain point, I don’t want them to go higher because at a certain point, you make it where people don’t buy. So I may not want to go higher, or I may not want to even go up to that level,” Donald Trump said, according to Bloomberg. “I may want to go to less because, you know, you want people to buy.”

While speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump made the remarksas he met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

During the interaction, Trump also claimed that Beijing was repeatedly reaching out to him in a bid to broker a deal.

“I have a very good relationship with President Xi, and I think it’s going to continue. And I would say they have reached out a number of times,” Trump said, according to Bloomberg.

When pressed on whether Xi himself directly had contacted him or whether it was Chinese officials, Trump responded, “Well, the same. I view it very similar. It would be the top levels of China.”

US-China trade war

Donald Trump’s administration has announced a sweeping new tariff of up to 245% on Chinese imports, sharply escalating the trade conflict between the United States and China.

According to the White House, the levies includes a 125% reciprocal tariff, a 20% tariff to address the fentanyl crisis, and Section 301 tariffs on specific goods, between 7.5% and 100%

China has also retaliated with duties of 125% on the US and has also filed a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization.

Beijing has said American tariffs go “against the whole world” and would “seriously damage the rules-based multilateral trading system”