U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer slammed China for not fulfilling their compliance under a trade agreement wagered in early May.
Greer says Beijing’s leaders have not pulled back on countermeasures as discussed nor have they released the flow of the country’s rare Earth magnets being used to manufacture futuristic technology.
“We moved, as the president just said, very quickly, no one can deny that the United States did exactly what it was supposed to do, and the Chinese are slowrolling their compliance, which is completely unacceptable and has to be addressed,” the trade representative said during a Friday appearance on CNBC.
On May 12, the Trump administration said the U.S. would drop its baseline tariff rate on Chinese goods from 145 percent to 30 percent and China agreed to lower its tariff to 10 percent from 125 percent.
However, the president fumed at foreign leaders on Friday for failing to uphold their end of the deal.
“Because of this deal, everything quickly stabilized and China got back to business as usual. Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!”
Trump and his counterpart Xi Jinping are expected to have a call at some point to discuss discrepancies, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that trade talks have been “a bit stalled” on Thursday.
Greer said China’s holdout has forced the administration to take negotiations public.
“We’ve actually been quieter, frankly, than they have, to some degree. But the president’s comments today, obviously, as we’re watching the market, you know this is, this is complicating things,” he told CNBC.
“I would say there you know, lot of different ways to deal with folks. You make every effort to be diplomatic and professional and to do things behind closed doors, you know. But at some point, you know, the impact on the US economy, or the trade relationship, becomes such that it’s hard to withhold that anymore.”
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