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11/21/2024 08:03:05 am

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Trump’s Tough Trade Tweets Raise Tension Ahead of Xi Meeting

Trump's Tough Trade Tweets against China.

(Photo : Getty Images. ) U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday evening tweeted that his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping will be a "difficult one."

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday again resorted to his trademark tweets to rake up the trade issues with Beijing ahead of his next week meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump's tough trade tweets came barely hours after China officially confirmed Xi and Trump's meeting on April 6 and 7 in Florida.

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"The meeting next week with China will be a very difficult one in that we can no longer have massive trade deficits and job losses," Trump tweeted. "American companies must be prepared to look at other alternatives."

The U.S. President's latest tweets underscore the fact that trade issues will dominate next week's highly anticipated meeting with Xi. The meeting's trade agenda was partly set-up after the U.S. administration recently launched series of attacks against China's alleged unfair trade practices.

The tough trade talks against China is seen as an indication that Trump's promise of trade war against Beijing in last year's campaign was not simply election rhetoric. The outspoken Republican leader repeatedly described the second largest economy as a "currency manipulator" and accused China of stealing American jobs. He repeatedly raised the Chinese steel dumping issue during their election rallies.

But Trump's plan to launch a trade war is not finding much support in the American corporate world, with most corporate leaders urging the U.S. leader to drop his plan. The consensus among the American business leaders is that trade war against Beijing will equally affect the U.S. business interests.

This sentiment was reiterated by General Electric Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Immelt, at a business function on Thursday. "The country loses if we don't trade. The relationship with China is key," Immelt said at a function hosted by an aviation club. He added that if the U.S. gives up on trade, it will lose the bargaining clout across the world.

China is among the top export markets for U.S companies despite the fact that it shares a trade deficit with the second largest economy. This deficit is apparently due to several big U.S. companies choosing China as their manufacturing base, something that has not gone too well with the U.S president.

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