‘That's the way world works': Trump plays down tensions with China, says ‘we're getting along well'

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2 days ago

US President Donald Trump has downplayed China's sabotage campaign involving cyberattacks and smuggling and said 'that's the way world works'. read more
US President Donald Trump has said that the relationship with China is 'getting along well' and dismissed concerns about Chinese acts of sabotage.
In an interview with Maria Bartiromo for Fox News, Trump said that 'that's the way the world works' when asked about Chinese acts of sabotage, such as intellectual property theft, smuggling, and cybercrimes.
The remarks have come at a time when the Trump administration is negotiating a deal with China. In recent weeks, the two sides have announced understandings to ease the supply of Chinese rare earths and ease US restrictions on China's access to advanced technologies.
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For years, US and Western agencies have held China responsible for stealing intellectual property, smuggling drugs and other things into Western countries, and waging a sabotage campaign, including cyberattacks.
'That's the way it works'
When Bartiromo asked how the United States could negotiate with a country that 'hacked into our telecom system, they've been stealing intellectual property, fentanyl, COVID, all of this stuff', Trump downplayed these concerns and said that both sides did such things.
'You don't think we do that to them? We do a lot of things. That's the way the world works. It's a nasty world,' said Trump.
In a reference to ongoing US-China trade talks, Trump said that the United States is 'along well with China'.
Trump further said, 'I think getting along with China is a very good thing, but they are paying substantial tariffs.'
Trump hails trade talks with China — and ties with Xi Jinping
Trump hailed ongoing talks with China and his relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
As a result of his negotiations, China 'would be paying a lot of tariffs' and such tariffs would generate up to trillion dollars in revenue, Trump told Fox.
Trump further said that he has a 'great relationship' with Xi.
Trump further said, 'We had a deal with China where it was 145 percent tariffs. And I will tell you, everything stopped in China. I saw that everything stopped, and we did China a favor, but we're getting along well with China.'
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After reaching a trade truce earlier, the United States and China last month reached an understanding that would ease China's supply of rare earths to US companies and ease US restrictions on China's access to critical technologies. The exact terms of the understanding were not clear.
At the height of tariff war, Trump had imposed 145 per cent tariffs on China and China had imposed 125 per cent tariffs on the United States. As per the truce reached earlier, US tariffs came down to 30 per cent and Chinese tariffs came down to 10 per cent.