US President Donald Trump said he would prefer not to have to impose tariffs on China, his latest dovish remark toward the world’s second-biggest economy even as he continues to threaten sweeping action.
Asked if he could stop the Chinese president from taking Taiwan and reach a trade agreement, Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity that the US had a “very big power over China, and that’s tariffs, and they don’t want them.”
“And I’d rather not have to use it. But it’s a tremendous power over China,” he said in the interview that aired on Thursday.
Photo: AFP
Trump has wielded tariffs as a frequent threat against friends and adversaries, while promising voters that the additional revenue would help fund his domestic priorities.
On his second day in office, he threatened to put 10 percent tariffs on China as soon as Saturday next week for allowing fentanyl to “pour” into the US.
Markets have taken it as a positive sign that Trump stopped short of imposing tariffs on China in his first days in office, and his recent threats were softer than those issued last year. During his presidential campaign, the Republican floated additional levies on China of about 60 percent.
The yuan extended gains and rose 0.6 percent in both onshore and offshore markets after Trump’s latest comments. Chinese stocks also extended gains, with the benchmark CSI 300 Index ending the day up 0.8 percent.
In Beijing, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning (毛寧) yesterday said there were “huge common interests” between the US and China.
“The two sides should step up dialogue and consultation,” she said at a regular press briefing.
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
RSS