Photo: Screenshot/White House official YouTube video
President Donald Trump, long a critic of US-China trade imbalances, Wednesday said he does not blame Beijing but the past American administrations “for allowing this out-of-control trade deficit to take place and grow.”
Trump, who held a series of parleys with Chinese President Xi Jinping, spoke during his visit to Beijing as the U.S. and Chinese companies signed $ 250 billion deals.
“I don’t blame China,” he said of the ballooning inequities in trade between the two largest world economies in comments seen as contrasting with his statements blaming Beijing for the deficit.
“After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country to the benefit of its citizens? But in actuality, I do blame past [U.S.] administrations for allowing this out-of-control trade deficit to take place and to grow,” Trump remarked.
“We have to fix this because it just doesn’t work for our great American companies and it doesn’t work for our great American workers. It is just not sustainable,” he added.
The two leaders also discussed enhancing cooperation to address the escalating North Korean nuclear threat.
Trump noted that the the U.S. and China agreed “not to repeat the mistakes of the past” in dealing with the North Korean nuclear question.
“The entire civilized world must unite to confront the North Korean menace,” he added.
Xi Jinping offered no details on the way out of the troubles that Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile development pose but said “We reiterated the firm commitment to denuclearize the peninsula.”
According to U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says “there is no disagreement on North Korea” between the two countries.
He told reporters after talks between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinpin that the Chines made it clear that they would not accept a North Korea with nuclear weapons.
“There’s no space between both of our objectives,” Tillerson said.
“We have our own views of the tactics, the timing and how far to go with pressure and that’s what we spend a lot of time exchanging views on.”
According to Tillerson, Trump told Xi: “You’re a strong man, I’m sure you can solve this for me.”
