Former U.S. President Donald Trump has once again stirred controversy by accusing China of breaching a recently negotiated trade deal that had temporarily eased the escalating trade war between the two global economic powerhouses. In a fiery post on his Truth Social platform, Trump expressed frustration, alleging that he made a concessionary deal with China to avert economic turmoil — only to see Beijing violate the agreement.
Trump claimed he had imposed unprecedented 145% tariffs on Chinese imports, which he said had caused "grave economic danger" and even "civil unrest" in China. He added that many Chinese factories had shut down due to the tariffs, prompting him to negotiate a "fast deal" to stabilize the situation. This, he claimed, reduced the tariff to 30%, while China agreed to slash its own retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods from 125% to 10%.
Despite the truce — a 90-day tariff rollback agreement reached earlier this month during trade talks in Geneva — Trump now asserts that China has “totally violated” the deal. He lamented, “So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!”
This dramatic turn came shortly after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledged that trade negotiations with China had stalled. He emphasized that resolving the impasse might require direct talks between Trump and President Xi Jinping. Bessent also noted that while the temporary deal calmed markets, it did not resolve core U.S. concerns about China's state-run economic practices.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer had previously outlined the terms of the de-escalation, which included a significant mutual tariff rollback. The Geneva discussions were the first high-level trade talks between the U.S. and China since Trump's original tariff hikes.
Adding to the volatility, a U.S. trade court recently ruled that Trump had exceeded his authority by invoking emergency powers to impose some of the tariffs. However, a federal appeals court temporarily reinstated the tariffs, pending further review. The court has set June 5 as the deadline for plaintiff responses and June 9 for the administration’s response.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has shifted focus toward negotiating new trade terms with Japan, India, and the European Union, as concerns mount about the unresolved tensions with China and their potential impact on the global economy.
