The United States hopes to re-launch trade talks with China after U.S. President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping meet in Japan on Saturday, but Washington will not accept any conditions around the U.S. use of tariffs in the dispute, a senior administration official said on Tuesday.
Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on another $325 billion (¥34.9 trillion) of goods, covering nearly all the remaining Chinese imports into the United States — including consumer products such as cellphones, computers and clothing — if the meeting with Xi produces no progress in resolving a host of U.S. complaints around the way China does business.
The two sides could agree not to impose new tariffs as a goodwill gesture to get negotiations going, the official said, but he said it was unclear if that would happen.