Reuters reported that on April 17, US President Donald Trump signaled that the US-China tax retaliation war, which has caused a market chaos, may be coming to an end, and said that the deal related to the fate of the social networking platform TikTok may have to wait longer.
Speaking at the White House on April 17, Mr. Trump suddenly gave a softer signal than usual: "I don't want the tariffs to increase any more, because to some extent, people won't buy anymore."
He added: "Maybe I won't increase it, I won't even decrease it. Because if no one buys, everything is meaningless.
This is a rare time for the Republican president to acknowledge the practical limits of tax strikes - which he has used as his main weapon during his term.
The statement came just weeks after Washington suddenly imposed a 10% tariff on much of the imported goods - causing a strong reaction from the market, especially to the global supply chain.
For Chinese goods, the highest tax rate after many increases has reached 245% for some items, accompanied by corresponding responses from Beijing.
However, last week, China signaled that it would not continue to "eat tit for tat" in the tax war, suggesting that both sides may be looking to cool down.
President Trump said the Chinese side has been proactive in communication since the new tax package was introduced. Although he did not disclose details of the exchanges, he expressed optimism: "We can reach an agreement".
However, according to Reuters, there have been no substantial high-level negotiations launched between the two sides, at least not on a scale that could lead to a breakthrough.
President Trump also declined to reveal whether Chinese President Xi Jinping will directly participate in the negotiations.
In the context of uncertain trade negotiations, the fate of TikTok's deal continues to be stagnant.
Despite a potential deal for parent company ByteDance to separate TikToks assets in the US, Trump said the deal would have to wait until the broader trade deal was resolved.
We have a deal for TikTok, but it depends on China. So we will postpone until everything is clear, Trump said.
TikTok currently has about 170 million users in the US.
