WASHINGTON (TNND) — The world has been watching anxiously as the new U.S.-China trade war, triggered by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, has frozen the largest trade partnership in the world. The biggest question at the moment is, are the two sides even talking to each other?
When Trump was asked this on Wednesday night, he said, “Yeah, of course, every day.”
Hours later, on Thursday morning, the spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on X, “China and the US are not having any consultation or negotiation on tariffs, still less reaching a deal. This tariff war is launched by the US. China’s position is consistent and clear: We will fight, if fight we must. Our doors are open, if the US wants to talk. Dialogue and negotiation must be based on equality, respect and mutual benefit.”
Later on Thursday, as Trump was hosting the prime minister of Norway, a reporter brought up China’s refutation.
“Well, they had a meeting this morning, so,” Trump said.
“Who’s ‘they?'” The reporter asked.
“Doesn’t matter who ‘they’ is. We may reveal it later. They had meetings this morning. We’ve been meeting with China,” Trump said.
The day before, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters talks with China had not started yet, and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told Fox News, “It’s clear that the president and our team are open to talks. The Chinese have signaled that they’re open to talks.”
As for talks with other countries, the White House said it has 18 drafted proposals and has touted progress specifically with India, Japan and now, South Korea.
“We had a very successful meeting with the Republic of South Korea today,” Bessent told reporters Thursday. “We may be moving faster than I thought and we will be talking technical terms as early as next week, as we reach an agreement on understanding as soon as next week.”
Historically, it usually takes well over a year, or years, to negotiate and implement a new trade deal, which is traditionally ratified by Congress.
On Thursday, Trump commented on the fact that he has a small economic team at the White House tasked with negotiating with just about every country on earth. Trump said at some point, they’ll start unilaterally setting terms for new trade agreements.
“We are going to at some point, just set prices for deals,” Trump said. “Some will be tariffed. Some treated us very unfairly, they’ll be tariffed higher than others.”
