Trump Says China ‘Forced’ Him To Levy High Tariffs, But Thinks They Are ‘Not Sustainable’: Report

President Donald Trump on Friday reportedly said that China “forced” him to levy tariffs on the latter, amid ongoing tensions between the Trump administration and its Chinese counterparts.

According to a report by Bloomberg citing a Fox Business interview, President Trump stated that there needs to be a fair deal with China, ahead of a meeting with President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea later this month.

“I think we’re going to be fine with China, but we have to have a fair deal. It’s got to be fair,” he said in the interview, adding that he gets along well with President Xi.

However, despite threatening a “massive” tariff hike against China, President Trump said it’s “not sustainable” when asked if these levies would remain in place without having a notable adverse impact on the U.S. economy. “But that’s what the number is, it’s probably not, you know, it could stand, but they forced me to do that,” he added, according to the report.

Last week, President Trump said his administration is contemplating an increase in tariffs on Chinese goods coming into the U.S. He subsequently softened his stance, stating that it “will all be fine,” adding that the United States wants to help China, not hurt it.

Meanwhile, U.S. equities were mixed in Friday’s opening trade. At the time of writing, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was down 0.11%, the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) fell 0.24%, while the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) rose 0.19%. Retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF on Stocktwits was in the ‘bearish’ territory.

Also See: Gold Price Sees Relentless Rally To Fresh Record Highs On Safe Haven Demand

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