'Xi just had a bad moment': Trump after Vance urges China to 'choose the path of reason'

Amid tensions between the United States and China over the tariffs , US President Donald Trump and his Vice President JD Vance signalled openness on Sunday to resume talks on a trade deal. However, both leaders warned that the recent export controls announced by Beijing were a major barrier to talks.

On Sunday, Vice President JD Vance called on China to “choose the path of reason” in the latest spiralling trade fight between the world’s two leading economies. Vance went ahead to claim that Trump has more leverage in the trade talks as the tariff war between the two nations drags on.

Hours after Vance’s assertion, Trump shared a statement on his social media platform TruthSocial, hinting at a possible off-ramp for Chinese President Xi Jinping while issuing a veiled threat that a full trade war would wound China. “Don’t worry about China, it will all be fine! Highly respected President Xi just had a bad moment. He doesn’t want Depression for his country, and neither do I. The USA wants to help China, not hurt it!!!” he wrote in the post on Sunday.

The remarks from both Trump and Vance reflected that the US still wants to keep up the pressure on China to reverse its most recent trade moves, while trying to reassure spooked markets that a tit-for-tat escalation is not inevitable.

A delicate matter

Soon after Trump’s announcement of 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods, stocks, oil and crypto took a hit on Friday. The flare-up started with Trump’s threat after China imposed restrictions on rare earth exports .

“It’s going to be a delicate dance, and a lot of it is going to depend on how the Chinese respond,” Vance said on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures. “If they respond in a highly aggressive manner, I guarantee you, the president of the United States has far more cards than the People’s Republic of China. If, however, they are willing to be reasonable,” he said, then the US would, too.

Meanwhile, China’s Ministry of Commerce said earlier on Sunday that the US should stop threatening it with higher tariffs and urged further negotiations to resolve outstanding trade issues. “I think it’s become very clear to everybody that this power grab by the Chinese won’t be tolerated,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Fox News’s The Sunday Briefing, when asked about the brewing tensions between the two economies.

‘Nov 1 is an eternity for me: Trump’

When asked for his reaction to China calling out America’s “double standards,” Trump simply said, “Let’s see what happens," as he boarded Air Force One and headed to West Asia . “You know, for me, you know what Nov 1 is? It’s an eternity. Nov 1 is an eternity for me. For somebody else, it’s right around the corner. For me, when I hear Nov 1, it’s an eternity.”

While speaking to Fox, Geer described the deadline as a “reason for home” that the market turmoil will settle this week. “I think that is a normal reaction for the markets to have some concern,” Greer said. “That being said, these measures aren’t in place yet. It’s scheduled for Nov 1. So I think we will see the markets calm this coming week, as they see things settle out, hopefully," he said.

Vance revealed that he had spoken to Trump on Saturday and Sunday and said that the president “appreciates the friendship that he’s developed with Xi”, but added, “We have a lot of leverage. And my hope, and I know the president’s hope, is that we don’t have to use that leverage.”

“The good relationship is threatened if the Chinese go down this pathway of cutting off the entire world from access to some of the goods that they produce,” he furthered. “We are going to find out a lot in the weeks to come about whether China wants to start a trade war with us, or whether they actually want to be reasonable. I hope they choose the path of reason,” Vance averred.

With inputs from agencies.