Donald Trump says, ‘ball is in China’s court’ as US hikes tariffs to 245%, prodding Beijing to negotiate

US versus China Trade Wars: The United States and its mercurial president, Donald Trump, have mounted pressure on China to join the negotiation table as a White House fact sheet revealed that US tariffs on Chinese goods now stood at a whopping 245 per cent. “The ball is in China’s court. China needs to make a deal with us. We don’t have to make a deal with them,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday.

“There’s no difference between China and any other country except they are much larger, and China wants what we have, what every country wants, what we have — the American consumer — or to put it another way, they need our money,” the statement continued.

China Reiterates Bullying Claim

Upon being asked about the hiked tariffs on China, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said, “If the US truly wants to resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiation, it should stop using maximum pressure and stop threats and blackmail.”

“For any dialogue to happen, it must be based on equality, respect and mutual benefit,” Lin said.

China Names New Trade Envoy

On Wednesday, Beijing named Li Chenggang to the position of international trade negotiation representative and vice commerce minister. He replaced Wang Shouwen, who had played a major role in trade negotiations during Trump’s first term.

China is going on a global charm offensive to promote itself as a more politically and economically stable partner than the United States. Chinese leader Xi Jinping is currently on a week-long tour of Southeast Asia with that mission in mind.

On Tuesday, Beijing also ordered airlines not to take further deliveries of Boeing jets.

Trump's Tariff War

US President Donald Trump imposed reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries with which the country has a trade deficit. Later, President Trump decided to pause the tariffs for 90 days after many countries initiated talks with the US administration for a trade deal.

“More than 75 countries have already reached out to discuss new trade deals,” the White House fact sheet said.

“As a result, the individualised higher tariffs are currently paused amid these discussions, except for China, which retaliated,” the fact sheet added.

For the time being, a baseline tariff of 10 per cent would be applicable on US imports.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump called on China to reach out to him. Beijing has suggested it would only engage in talks on an equal footing, with a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson reiterating calls for dialogue and an end to “blackmailing” on Wednesday.

China Posts Unexpected Strong Economic Growth

China posted unexpectedly strong economic growth in the first three months of 2025 before the full force of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs took effect and sent an upbeat message about how it plans to weather an ongoing trade war with Washington.

Growth in China’s gross domestic product (GDP) hit 5.4 per cent in the first quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. That was considerably higher than the expectations of more than 50 economists surveyed by Reuters, who had predicted expansion of 5.1 per cent and continues a recent run of surprisingly strong export-driven growth seen at the end of 2024.