Trump: China stalling to negotiate with 'weak' Democrat

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump claimed Wednesday that China is rolling back progress made in trade talks in hopes that a Democrat will be elected to the White House in 2020.

The president made specific mention of former Vice President Joe Biden who is the leading Democratic contender in the race.

"The reason for the China pullback & attempted renegotiation of the Trade Deal is the sincere HOPE that they will be able to 'negotiate' with Joe Biden or one of the very weak Democrats, and thereby continue to ripoff the United States (($500 Billion a year)) for years to come," Trump said in one of two Twitter posts.

"Guess what, that’s not going to happen!" he continued.

Trump threatened to impose new tariffs on China last weekend if a trade pact is not agreed upon by Friday, claiming that Beijing is trying to renegotiate already agreed upon issues.

The president threatened to raise existing duties on $200 billion of Chinese goods to 25% from current levels of 10%, and impose new 25% tariffs on $325 billion of Chinese imports.

Vice Premier Liu He, China's top trade negotiator, is scheduled to arrive in Washington on Thursday as part of a Chinese delegation to take part in the latest round of negotiations.

The talks were originally supposed to begin Wednesday, and hopes were pinned on them resulting in the elusive trade deal both Washington and Beijing have been seeking to strike.

Global markets tumbled mightily following Trump's weekend threat, as well as concerns it could lead China to call off negotiations. But that was averted when China announced Liu would return to Washington.

"China has just informed us that they (Vice-Premier) are now coming to the U.S. to make a deal. We’ll see, but I am very happy with over $100 Billion a year in Tariffs filling U.S. coffers...great for U.S., not good for China!" Trump said.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that tariffs generate revenue from China that flows into U.S. coffers, but the extra costs associated with tariffs are typically borne by U.S. importers who pass them on to consumers.