WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump suggested on Wednesday that a trade deal was “possible” with China — a key target in the US leader’s tariffs policy.

In 2020, the United States had already agreed to “a great trade deal with China” and a new deal was “possible”, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Asked about the comments, Beijing’s foreign ministry said Thursday the two countries should handle trade tensions with “mutual respect.”

One month into his second term in office, Trump has threatened sweeping tariffs on allies and adversaries alike — targeting China as well as neighbors Canada and Mexico, and the Euro­pean Union — and using levies as his main policy tool for lowering the massive US trade deficit.

At the beginning of Feb­ruary, he slapped additional customs duties of 10 percent on all products imported from China.

Beijing’s foreign ministry said Thursday that China and the United States “should resolve their concerns through dialogue and consultation based on equality and mutual respect”. “Trade and tariff wars have no winners and only serve to damage the interests of people all over the world,” ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a regular press briefing.

At a separate news conference, China’s commerce ministry said Beijing “urges the US side not to wield the big stick of tariffs at every turn, using tariffs as a tool to engage in coercion all around.”

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2025