“We’re going to be very nice, they’re going to be very nice, and we’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters when asked whether he planned to play “hardball” with Beijing.
“Ultimately, they have to make a deal because otherwise they’re not going to be able to deal in the United States. So we want them involved, but they have to — and other countries have to — make a deal, and if they don’t make a deal, we’ll set the deal.”
Trump also told reporters the current tariff rate on China won’t stay at the current level.
“145 percent is very high, and it won’t be that high,” he explained. “No, it won’t be anywhere near that high. It’ll come down substantially. But it won’t be zero — used to be zero. We were just destroyed. China was taking us for a ride.”