United States President Donald Trump reiterated on Tuesday (local time) that all Chinese goods entering the US will face a whopping 155 per cent tariff from November 1.
He added that such high tariffs will not be sustainable for China. Trump also expressed his desire to be “nice” to China, however, he added that Beijing has been “very rough” on the US.
When asked whether he would impose tariffs on China since it is one of Russia’s largest oil importers, Trump said, “Right now, as of November 1st, China will have about 155% tariffs put on it. I don’t think it’s sustainable for them.”
Blaming former US Presidents to let China take advantage of Washington, Trump said, “I want to be nice to China. But China has been very rough with us over the years because we had presidents that weren’t smart from a business standpoint. They allowed China and every other country to take advantage of us.”
Also read: India, US move closer to trade deal reducing tariffs on imports to 15-16%: Report
Trump also highlighted several trade deals he has been able to make with several countries in the last few months and how they apparently made the United States “richer”.
“I made a deal with the European Union. I made a deal with Japan and South Korea. A lot of these deals are great deals… It’s about national security. I was able to do it because of tariffs. We’re getting hundreds of billions, even trillions of dollars paid into the United States…There– we are a rich country again,” he said.
‘India not going to buy Russian oil’
Trump’s mounting tariff threats on China also comes amid his repeated claims that Prime Minister Narendra Modi told him that India will not be buying oil from Russia.
Earlier this year, Trump imposed 50 per cent tariffs on India, half of which was penalty for buying oil from Russia, a move India termed as “unreasonable”.
However, over the last few days, Trump has claimed on several occasions that PM Modi has said that India will stop its oil purchase from Russia. “I spoke with Prime Minister Modi of India, and he said he’s not going to be doing the Russian oil thing,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday.
When he was asked about New Delhi denying any such phone call regarding India’s purchase of oil from Russia, Trump said: “But if they want to say that, then they’ll just continue to pay massive tariffs, and they don’t want to do that,” reported news agency Reuters.
