Washington - US President Donald Trump warned on Thursday there
is "a lot more" he could do to hurt China's economy.
Trump accuses Beijing of engaging in unfair trade practices,
including forced technology transfers and intellectual property
theft. He has imposed tariffs on an estimated half of all Chinese
goods imported to the US, worth some 250 million dollars.
Lowered manufacturing output reported at the end of September in
China indicates that the tariffs may be starting to bite Beijing.
"Their economy has gone down very substantially and I have a lot more
to do if I want to do it," Trump said in an interview with Fox News.
"I don't want to do it, but they have to come to the table," he
continued.
An opportunity for talks between Trump and Chinese President Xi
Jinping could come during the Group of 20 leaders' summit in Buenos
Aires in late November, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The newspaper said the White House is laying the groundwork for the
meeting, saying Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin and National
Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow want to de-escalate the trade
fight.
"They lived too well for too long," Trump said of the Chinese during
his Fox News interview. "And frankly, I guess, they think that the
Americans are stupid people. Americans are not stupid people."
However, he praised Beijing for being "quite good" when it comes to
helping Washington in its effort to denuclearize North Korea.