Trump accuses China of violating Geneva deal; raises steel tariffs
發佈日期: 2025-05-31 21:00
TVB News
U.S. President Donald Trump has accused China of violating a bilateral agreement to roll back tariffs, at the same time announcing a doubling of duties on steel and aluminium to 50 percent.
This a day after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said talks with China during a 90-day pause in high tariffs had "stalled a bit."
Beijing hit out at U.S. export controls and urged Washington to adhere to the consensus reached during talks in Geneva earlier in May.
No more Mr. Nice Guy, says U.S. President Donald Trump, referring to trade talks with China. On a Truth Social post, he wrote that China has "totally violated its agreement with us."
He addressed the issue at the Oval Office, saying he will speak to President Xi Jinping.
"Well, they did. They were," said Trump. "They violated a big part of the agreement we made. You know, if you read that whole statement, I was very nice to them. I helped them because they were in trouble with the stoppage of a massive amount of business. But I'm sure that I'll speak to President Xi, and hopefully we'll work that out. But, yeah, that's... there's a violation of the agreement."
U.S. and Chinese officials met in Geneva in mid-May during which both sides agreed to climb down from massive tariffs on each other's imports.
Reports say China is moving slower than promised on issuing export licences for rare earth minerals, crucial in the U.S. for semiconductors, electronics and defence.
The U.S. has ordered many of its companies to stop shipping goods to China without a licence, involving products such as design software, chemicals for semiconductors, machine tools and aviation equipment.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for Beijing's embassy in Washington, raised concerns about U.S. export controls, urging the U.S. to cease discriminatory restrictions against China and jointly uphold the consensus reached at Geneva talks.
Trump, meanwhile, held a rally at U.S. Steel's Mon Valley Works-Irvin Plant in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, where he said he would raise tariffs on steel and aluminium products.
He said: "We are going to be imposing a 25 percent increase. We're going to bring it from 25 percent to 50 percent, the tariffs on steel, into the United States of America, which will even further secure the steel industry in the United States."
Trump also lauded an agreement for Japan's Nippon Steel to invest in U.S. Steel, though details of the collaboration are vague. Trump said the company will stay American and will be led by an American.
