JOINT BASE ANDREWS: U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he believes China can open its markets to American goods, stating once again that he has a good relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
“I think it’s going to happen,” Trump said when asked if he thinks Chinese markets could open to American products. He did not give more details.
Washington and Beijing have had tense ties for years over issues such as trade tariffs, intellectual property, human rights, the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, cybersecurity and policies toward Taiwan, Hong Kong and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
A day earlier, Trump threatened to impose a 25% tariff on countries that trade with Iran, risking reopening old wounds with Beijing, Tehran’s largest trading partner.
China condemned Trump’s threat, and Trump did not provide details about his plan to impose tariffs on countries that trade with Iran, which is currently seeing some of its largest anti-government protests in years.
Trump has been weighing how to respond to the situation in Iran, which fought a 12-day war with US ally Israel last year and whose nuclear sites were bombed by the US military in June.
