After weeks of escalating tariffs, standoffs, and combative rhetoric, Chinese officials have signaled a willingness to start trade talks with the Trump administration — but only if the U.S. is ready to show it’s ready to take things seriously.
“If the U.S. wants to talk, it should show its sincerity and be prepared to correct its wrong practices and cancel the unilateral tariffs,” a spokesperson for the commerce ministry said in a statement Friday, making it clear that any progress hinges on Washington removing its steep tariffs on Chinese goods, which are currently at 145%.
China has responded to President Donald Trump’s tariffs with retaliatory levies of 125% and export restrictions on important rare earth minerals. Both sides, however, have granted key exemptions to certain products.
The commerce ministry said the Chinese government is “evaluating” the Trump administration’s recent overtures. Still, it emphasized that “saying one thing but doing another, or even attempting to coerce and blackmail under the guise of talks, will not work with China.” Failure to do so would indicate “an outright lack of sincerity” and “further compromise mutual trust.”
The ministry’s latest comments are part of a larger back-and-forth between the two governments — where both sides have said the other has reached out first and neither wants to be the first to cave and show any signs of perceived weakness.
The Commerce Ministry said in Friday’s statement that senior U.S. officials have reached out “multiple times” to start negotiations. Trump, however, has insisted that Chinese President Xi Jinping has been the one to reach out to him — and not the other way around. Trump said in a recent interview with Time that Xi had called him, which prompted Chinese officials to call that report “fake news” and emphasize that there had been no calls and no talks on tariffs.
The S&P Index Futures perked up this morning out of hope. The S&P 500 rose 1.4%, while European and Asian markets also saw notable increases. Meanwhile, the Chinese offshore yuan strengthened 0.14% against the dollar following the statement.
Still, despite the news of thawing between the two countries, it remains unclear just how willing Trump is to negotiate with China on tariffs, especially if he doesn’t get what he sees as significant concessions — for example, more access to Chinese markets, which the president suggested was something he was interested in when speaking to reporters last week.
“I’m not going to drop [the tariffs] unless they give us something that’s, you know, substantial,” Trump said.
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