After threatening to slap China with new tariffs, Trump administration officials on Sunday softened some of the rhetoric, reemphasizing the penalties are not imminent and there is ample time to work out a deal and step back from a possible trade war.
The Trump administration would like to open formal negotiations with the Chinese government over its trade practices, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. Asked if the president is willing to fight a trade war with China unless Beijing makes some changes, Sanders replied: "We don’t want it to come to that." But China's reaction so far has been that they will protect their interests.
"The U.S. has misjudged the situation and taken the wrong action,'' China's Commerce Ministry spokesperson Gao Feng said Friday night in the Global Times. "China is fully prepared and will take immediate action with major countermeasures if the U.S. releases the list of the additional $100 billion tariff."