China calls for ‘dialogue’ to solve differences with US as Trump flexes tariff muscle. But there's a catch

While speaking on US-China relations in his first interview at the White House, US President Donald Trump said he would “rather not” impose tariffs on Beijing. The remarks came as a surprise since Trump has been adamant about hurling high tariffs on the import of Chinese goods. But despite Trump’s strong warnings, China has seemed to take advantage of the matter.

When asked in the interview with Fox News, if his administration is open to making a deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping over Taiwan and trade, Trump emphasised that he would rather not emphasise tariffs on China. “I can do that because we have something that they want, we have a pot of gold,” he remarked.

“We have one very big power over China, and that’s tariffs, and they don’t want them, and I’d rather not have to use it. But it’s a tremendous power over China,” the mercurial president furthered.

In response to this China insisted that Beijing would be able to sort out differences with Washington through dialogue. “China-US economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial and win-win,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said shortly after Trump’s interview was aired.

Why does Trump want to impose Tariffs on China?

In the past, Trump has claimed that China was behind the supply of fentanyl to US neighbours, which he said was in turn responsible for a deadly addiction crisis within the country. He wants to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico for similar reasons.

Another key factor is that the United States and China have been key economic rivals for decades. Since Trump has always encouraged and promoted American enterprises, he believes that imposing tariffs on China would ultimately benefit the US. Trump argued that if importing from China becomes expensive, people will be forced to buy products from domestic enterprises.

How China is reaping the benefits?

While the idea of imposing high tariffs is detrimental to China, the warnings have somehow helped the country. According to Al Jazeera, Chinese exports to US companies rose, growing by 4 per cent between November 2023 and November 2024. In the first 11 months of last year, China’s exports to the US totalled about $401 billion.

With the growing tariff warning, the US companies ramped up their purchase of Chinese goods to stock up before the import costs shot up. While China’s exports to the US increased, its imports from the rival country decreased by a whopping 11.2 per cent according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC).

Hence, if Trump wants to impose high tariffs on China it has to move quickly, until then China will reap the benefits of all the warnings.

With inputs from agencies.