President Donald Trump said on Thursday that China had been “very spoiled” on trade, making ongoing trade negotiations more difficult.
“China’s become very spoiled,” Trump said. “The European Union has become very spoiled, other countries have become very spoiled because they always got 100 percent of whatever they wanted from the United States. but we can’t allow that to happen anymore.”
Trump made his remarks to reporters during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. He is expected to meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He to discuss further trade options later Thursday afternoon. But Trump expressed skepticism with the ongoing negotiations.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow, and trade advisers Peter Navarro and Everett Eissenstat have been meeting with Chinese officials for the purpose of drawing down the massive trade deficit.
“Trade has been a total one-way street,” Trump said, noting that China was taking money out of the United States “by the bucketloads.”
The president reminded reporters that it was unusual to have Chinese officials come to the United States to discuss a trade deal, but that the talks were still ongoing.
He blamed past administrations for giving in to Chinese demands on trade, allowing them to “get away with murder.”
“As the expression goes, when you’re losing $500 billion a year on trade, you can’t lose the trade war, we’ve already lost it,” he said.
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