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China again rebuts Trump’s claim that the US is talking to Beijing about tariffs
From CNN’s Nectar Gan
President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday.
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Beijing has again refuted US President Donald Trump’s claim that US officials have been talking to their Chinese counterparts about the trade war.
A spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry reiterated Friday that the two sides were not in talks.
“Yesterday, my colleague from the Ministry of Commerce and I clearly answered this question. There have been no negotiations between China and the United States on the issue of tariffs,” Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for the ministry, said at a regular news conference in Beijing.
“The US should not mislead the public,” Guo added.
Trump said on Thursday that his administration had meetings with Chinese officials regarding trade earlier in the morning.
“They had meetings this morning, and we’ve been meeting with China,” Trump said at a bilateral lunch with the prime minister of Norway.
Trump said the administration may reveal who was in the meeting later, but did not specify with whom they had met with. Chinese officials have denied they are engaged in direct talks with the United States, calling suggestions otherwise “fake news.”
“To my knowledge, China and the United States have not engaged in any consultations or negotiations on the tariff issue, let alone reached any agreement,” Guo told reporters on Thursday.
Trump said Wednesday that his administration was talking to China “every day” as a trade war between the two countries drags on.
