Washington: China is getting hurt by the increased American import tariffs and "badly" wants to strike a deal with the US, President Donald Trump has said, amidst a bruising trade war between the two economic giants.
The US president increased levies on USD 200 billion worth of Chinese imports into the US from 10 per cent to 25 per cent last month after Washington and Beijing failed to reach a deal on trade.
China retaliated by announcing plans to raise levies on USD 60 billion of US imports from June 1.
Last month, the Trump administration added Huawei to its "entity list", which bans the telecom company from acquiring technology from US firms without government approval.
The US president has previously accused China of targeting American industries and stealing intellectual property, the theft of American jobs and wealth.
On Tuesday, Trump defended his actions against China, the world's second largest economy after the US.
"We're taking in billions and billions of dollars. Companies are leaving China right now and they're coming here because they don't want to pay the tariffs. They're going to other countries," Trump said.
"I can tell you China would like to make a deal very badly. They're getting hurt very badly by the tariffs because companies can't pay the tariffs, so they're leaving China," Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.
Responding to questions, Trump said that China "will subsidise companies so our taxpayer" is not paying for very much of it.
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Trump said he expects to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 28-29.
"We had a deal with China and then they went back on the deal. They said, 'We don't want to have four major points, five major points'. So we changed it. But we had a deal with China. Unless they go back to that deal, I have no interest," he said.
"Right now, we're taking in billions and billions of dollars. What we've done in the last two and a half years, we've picked up USD 14 trillion in net worth of the United States. China has gone down probably by USD 20 trillion.
"There's a tremendous gap. When I came in, that gap was getting very close," he claimed.
Trump also slammed former US vice president and Democratic presidential aspirant for the 2020 presidential race Joe Biden for being a "dummy" to China.
"Joe Biden thought that China was not a competitor of ours. Joe Biden is a dummy. Joe Biden thought China was not a competitor. China made USD 500 billion, over a short period of time, against Obama, Biden -- and for many, many years, in all fairness to them, he alleged.
"China is a major competitor and right now China wants to make a deal very badly. It's me, right now, that's holding up the deal. And we're going to either do a great deal with China or we're not doing a deal at all," he said.
"Right now, China is paying us billions and billions of dollars. They never gave us 10 cents. And China ate our country alive during Obama and Biden. They ate us alive. And then, Biden has some kind of relationship financially, or his son, with China? Tell me about that? Because China ate the United States alive economically, and it's a shame," he said.
Later addressing a renewable energy meeting in Iowa, Trump said that the "colossal trade deficits" financed the build-up of China's infrastructure, military and technology at the expense of the American taxpayer.
"Now, in response to our economic self-defence China has levied unfair retaliation against the farmers and the ranchers but we've made up for that retaliation with the USD16 billion. ...we had no choice.
"We want to get along with China, but we had no choice. I had great respect for the president of China, President Xi, but he's representing China and I'm representing the United States of America. Nothing much you can do about that," US president said.
