China has given Trump 6 days to avoid trade war but he is in no hurry to meet Xi

US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are going back and forth on imposing tariffs. China has announced retaliatory levies on American goods in response to Trump’s tariffs. However, despite this POTUS is in no hurry to speak to the Chinese president to try and defuse a possible trade war.

“That’s fine,” Trump said at the White House when asked about China’s retaliatory duties. A conversation between Xi and Trump, like conversations with Mexican and Canadian leaders on Monday, is seen as key to a potential easing or delay of tariffs.

Earlier this week, in a tit-for-tat move, Beijing said it would implement a 15 per cent tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas products along with a 10 per cent tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars imported from the US. These measures will take effect from next Monday.

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Press sec says Trump and Jinping talks imminent

While Trump says he will take his time to speak to Jinping about the tariff issue, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt has told reporters that a call between the two still needed to be scheduled.

“President Xi did reach out to President Trump to speak about this, maybe to begin a negotiation. So we’ll see how that call goes,” Leavitt told Fox Business Network earlier on Tuesday.

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Apart from announcing a barrage of tariffs on the US, China has also launched an antitrust investigation against Google.

China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said Tuesday it was investigating Google on suspicion of violating antitrust laws.

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While regulators did not provide further details, the announcement came minutes after the new US tariffs came into effect.

Not the first US-China trade war

This is not the first time the two countries with the largest economies have engaged in a clash of trade.

During his first presidency in 2018, Trump repeatedly raised tariffs on Chinese goods and China responded each time.

This time, analysts said, China is much better prepared, announcing a slew of measures that go beyond tariffs and cut across different sectors of the US economy. The government is also more wary of upsetting its own fragile and heavily trade-dependent economy.

With inputs from agencies