Trump warns that he could “destroy China” but wants a “big relationship” with XI

President Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States and China – the two biggest economies in the world – “will have an excellent relationship”, even if he warned that if he did, he could “destroy China” by playing the “incredible cards” at his disposal.

“We have much larger and better than them cards,” Trump told journalists at the Oval Office before a bilateral meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung. “They have cards. We have incredible cards. But I don’t want to play these cards. If I did, it would destroy China,” said Trump, adding “I’m not going to play these cards.”

It was not immediately clear if Trump’s “cards” referred to the economic lever effect, political influence or something else.

Trump plans to meet the XI of China in the near future in the middle of a possible pricing break

President Donald Trump, on the left, meets Chinese President Xi Jinping at a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. (Susan Walsh / AP)

Trump also said that he had recently spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping and added that he was considering a trip to meet his counterpart while the two countries continue to negotiate commercial conditions.

“At one point, probably during this year or shortly after, we will go to China,” said Trump. The president said last month that XI had extended the invitation.

Washington and Beijing agreed on August 12 to extend their commercial truce against 90 days, which gives negotiators more time to conclude an agreement. Trump increased prices on all Chinese products several times this year, with the greatest work reaching 145% in April. The current American sample on most Chinese imports is 30%. China has granted 10% rights to American imports. »»

China oil ties with Russia and Iran are commercial flash points, says the United States

In July, secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent identified the support of China with sanctioned oil as a central discord in the last series of trade negotiations which occurred in Sweden. Bessent previously directed commercial negotiations with the Chinese in Geneva in May and a month later in London.

The US trade representative Jamieson Greer, on the left, and the American secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent participate in a press conference after two days of closed discussions on trade between the United States and China, in Geneva, Switzerland, May 12, 2025.

Washington has long complained that Iran And Russia uses oil export funds to finance terror and other destabilizing actions in the world. Despite American sanctionsBeijing is the best Iranian oil importer and the second largest importer in Russian oil.

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In addition to the Russian and Iranian Imports of oil, Bessent also said that the United States wanted to limit China’s status as a global manufacturing power. He has already called China To limit its massive export economy and increase its participation as a global business import partner.