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Despite mounting financial pressure, China says it won’t negotiate until the Trump administration shows “sincerity” by canceling tariffs on its goods.
May 2, 2025, 12:38 a.m. ET
In a potential softening of the bruising trade war between China and the United States, Beijing said on Friday that it was considering holding talks with the Trump administration after repeated attempts by senior U.S. officials to start negotiations.
China’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement that China was “evaluating” the U.S. offer to talk, but it said Beijing’s position remained consistent: It will only engage in negotiations if Washington cancels its tariffs on Chinese goods first.
“If the United States does not correct its wrong unilateral tariff measures, it means that the United States has no sincerity at all and will further damage the mutual trust between the two sides,” the ministry said.
China’s signaling about its willingness to talk comes as the tariffs appear to have already taken a toll on Chinese producers. An official report on manufacturing activity in April showed that factories in China had experienced their sharpest monthly slowdown in more than a year.
The two countries have been sparring since President Trump ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese goods to a minimum of 145 percent last month, while omitting China from a 90-day pause on his tariffs that he granted to all other countries. China has responded with its own sky-high tariffs on U.S. goods, while blocking some American companies from doing business in China and restricting exports of critical minerals that U.S. manufacturers rely on to make things like semiconductors, drones and cars.
The clash, which has doubled as a battle of wills between Mr. Trump and China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, has shaken global markets and accelerated a decoupling of the world’s two largest economies.
