The video call comes as US-China trade relations have had a rough week, following US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose an additional 100% tariff on Chinese imports in response to Beijing’s new export restrictions.
On October 10, China expanded its rare earth export restrictions to include the military use of the minerals, marking the first time it had taken such a measure.
After Trump threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs, he later hinted that he would not carry out his pledge to impose a “massive increase of tariffs” on China.
On Thursday, when asked in a Fox Business interview if the threatened 100% tariff could be sustained, Trump said: “It’s not sustainable, but that’s what the number is.”
“It’s probably not, you know, it could stand, but they forced me to do that,” Trump said. “I think we’re going to do fine with China.”
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