President Trump announced last week that he would impose 100% tariffs on all Chinese imports, but acknowledged on Friday that such measures are not sustainable in the long term.
“It’s not sustainable, but that’s the number,” Trump told Fox Business Network. “They forced me to do it.”
The US president added that he believed relations with China “will go well” and said he planned to meet with Mr Xi soon. President Trump said, “I think our relationship with China will go well.” “We’ll meet in two weeks.”
The statement came amid several days of volatile exchanges between the two countries. President Trump last week accused the Chinese government of trying to “captive the world” through new export restrictions on rare earth materials. Trump called the move “evil and hostile,” threatened to take drastic trade measures, and said there was “no reason” to meet with Xi at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea.
MNA/