Two weeks before he’s slated to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Donald Trump told reporters his spat with China over trade has erupted into a full-blown trade war.
Asked by a reporter if the country would be in a “sustained trade war” with China if he couldn’t come to an agreement with Xi during their meeting in South Korea at the end of the month, the president said: “We’re in one now.”
"We have a 100% tariff," Trump said, referring to the tariffs he's recently threatened China with. "If we didn’t have tariffs, we would be exposed as being a nothing."
On Oct. 14, Trump announced that the U.S. would stop buying cooking oil from China in response to China’s decision to drop America as a supplier of soybeans. Trump said it was an “Economically Hostile Act” in a Truth Social post.
China has been the biggest buyer of American soybeans, according to the American Soybean Association.
