Trump says 100% tariffs on China ‘not sustainable’, will meet with Xi in 2 weeks | World News

President Donald Trump with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit in 2019. (File Photo: AP)

US President Donald Trump said Friday that his proposed 100 per cent tariff on Chinese goods was not meant to be permanent, describing it as an extreme measure meant to pressure Beijing ahead of an upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“It’s not sustainable, but that’s what the number is,” Trump told Fox Business Network. “They forced me to do that.”
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Trump also added that he would meet Xi in two weeks and expressed optimism about the talks, adding that he believed “things will be fine with China.”

On October 10, Trump announced the imposition of a 100 per cent tariff on China, effective from November 1.

“Based on the fact that China has taken this unprecedented position … the United States of America will impose a Tariff of 100 percent on China, over and above any Tariff that they are currently paying,” Trump had written in a post on his Truth Social handle.

He added that the US would also impose export controls on “any and all critical software”.

Earlier on the same day, Trump accused China of “trade hostility” and even said he might scrap his meeting with Xi.

Trump earlier this year, repeatedly hiked US tariffs on Chinese goods, amid spiralling tensions between the two countries, to a peak of 145 per cent. Beijing hit back, raising its own tariffs on US exports to 125 per cent.

But after talks between officials, US tariffs on Chinese products fell to 30 per cent, while Chinese tariffs on US goods dropped to 10 per cent.