Trump vows to make ’fantastic deal’ with China after meeting

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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States has “great respect” from Beijing and that he will reach a “fantastic deal” with Chinese President Xi Jinping when the two leaders meet soon.

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Trump's remarks come as Beijing angered him over its expansion of export controls on rare earth products used in smartphones, fighter jets, electric vehicles and more. Trump spoke as he hosted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House, flaunting the agreement with the U.S. ally as a potential counterpoint to China's near-monopoly in processing these critical minerals.

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“I think we'll end up making a fantastic deal with China,” Trump said. “It will be a great trade deal. It will be fantastic for both countries and for the world.”

Asked about China's leverage, Trump said Beijing “threatened us with rare earths, and I threatened them with tariffs.” But he insisted his good relationship with Xi meant they would get a “very fair deal”.

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All eyes are on a potential meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping, as any failure to reach any agreement raises the risk of destabilizing not only relations between the two superpowers, but also the global economy.

Trump has confirmed he will meet Xi Jinping this month on the sidelines of the 21-economy Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Beijing has not announced plans for Xi Jinping to travel to South Korea, but such details emerging closer to the trip date are not unusual.

Trump touts tariffs as powerful tool in dealing with China

The president has threatened to impose a new 100 percent tariff on China in response to Beijing's expanded regulations on rare earth products. And on Monday he said that there were already results.

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“They treat us with more respect now,” Trump said. “Now we'll see what happens. I said, if we don't make a deal, I'm putting an additional 100% on November 1. I think we'll make a deal.”

Since returning to the White House, Trump has imposed an additional 30% blanket tariff on China. Trump said the overall rate on Chinese goods was between 55% and 57%, and the country had paid the US “hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs.”

Beijing, however, has made it clear that it will play hardball.

“Threatening high tariffs is not the right way to deal with China,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said last week in response to Trump's threat of new tariffs.

At the meeting with Albanese, Trump said he had other options against China: “They can't get parts for their planes. We build their planes.”

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However, he said he preferred to make a deal. “I want to be good to China. I like my relationship with President Xi,” Trump said.

Trump not concerned about China's attack on Taiwan

Trump also dismissed concerns that Beijing could soon attack the self-ruled island of Taiwan. This is because, according to him, the US is far superior to us in military power.

“It’s not even close,” Trump said. “We have the best equipment. We have the best everything, and no one will mess with it.”

The United States is required by law to provide military support to Taiwan, which broke away from China in 1949 during a civil war. Beijing claims sovereignty over the island and vows to seize it by force if necessary to achieve what it calls “motherland reunification.”

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Trump acknowledged that Taiwan is the “apple of Xi's eye” but said: “I don't see anything happening. We have a very good trading relationship.”

When asked whether he might bow to pressure from Beijing and not support Taiwanese independence in exchange for a deal, Trump replied: “Well, I'm not going to talk about it.”

Beijing fires chief trade negotiator

Meanwhile, Li Chengang was removed as China's chief trade negotiator after leading the last four rounds of talks with the US. No reason was given.

He was replaced by Li Yongjie, deputy representative for international trade, who recently led trade negotiations with Ecuador.

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The announcement coincided with recent criticism of Li Chengang by Finance Minister Scott Bessent. At a news conference last week, Bessent publicly expressed his dissatisfaction, saying Lee “appeared here with very incendiary language on August 28th,” “became dishonest” and was “very disrespectful.”

“He showed up in Washington uninvited and said, quote, that China would cause global chaos if port fees were imposed,” Bessent said, referring to a U.S. plan to levy port fees on ships going to China.

Late last week, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng held a video call with Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamison Greer. According to China's official Xinhua News Agency, the two sides had a “frank, in-depth and constructive exchange of views” and agreed to hold a new round of trade talks as soon as possible.

Bessent said last week that he and his Chinese counterpart would likely meet soon in Malaysia to prepare for the leaders' summit.

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