President Donald Trump today said the US is not in a trade war with China as the war was lost many years ago by the previous "foolish and incompetent" American leadership.
Trump, however, asserted that the current trade situation with China cannot be allowed to continue.
"We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the US. Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue! he tweeted
In another tweet Trump said, "When you're already $500 Billion DOWN, you can't lose!"
Trump's comment came as the world's top two economies edged towards an all-out trade war after China rejected the US' demand to cut down trade deficit by USD 100 billion and announced plans to impose retaliatory tariffs worth USD 50 billion on 106 American products, including soybeans, cars and small aircraft.
China's decision to impose new tariffs came after Trump administration yesterday published a list of about 1,300 Chinese exports worth USD 50 billion that could be hit by US tariffs because of Beijing's alleged theft of intellectual property and technology.
China has already slapped tariffs on 128 US products, including wine and pork, totalling to USD 3 billion in retaliation to Trump's move to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium.
American stocks today plumbed, apprehending a trade war.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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