On Friday, Trump had claimed that he spoke with Xi over the phone.
https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/xw/fyrbt/lxjzh/202504/t20250428_11606273.html
Phoenix TV: It was reported that President Trump said at a TIME interview on April 22 that President Xi Jinping “has called.” What is China’s comment? Is there ongoing talks between China and the U.S.?
Guo Jiakun: As far as I know, there have not been any calls between the two presidents recently.
Let me make it clear one more time that China and the U.S. are not engaged in any consultation or negotiation on tariffs.
AFP: The U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a television interview on Sunday suggested that China might be denying ongoing talks between the U.S. and China on tariffs because China is “playing to a different audience,” but that there’s a path forward. So would the Foreign Ministry like to respond to Mr. Bessent’s assessment of the situation?
Guo Jiakun: China’s position on the tariff war is abundantly clear. Tariff and trade wars have no winners. If a negotiated solution is truly what the U.S. wants, it should stop threatening and blackmailing China, and seek dialogue based on equality, respect and mutual benefit.
AFP: Can the Foreign Ministry share any details about Wang Yi’s trip to Brazil for the BRICS meeting, including any deals that he hopes to land with other countries on how to respond to tariff tensions?
Guo Jiakun: China previously shared Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s attendance at the Meeting of BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs / International Relations and other relevant meetings. Readouts on Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s activities in Brazil will be released in due course. Please stay tuned.
I fully suspect that Trump will just lie about the negotiations that aren’t happening, say they did and that China agreed to do things that aren’t measurable such as “fight illegal fentanyl imports”, and then say that he won and roll back the tariffs. He isn’t going to get any real concessions from China and eventually he’ll realize that and just lie. This might be that tipping point
And it’s wild that will work on 60% of american who will be convinced he’s a master negotiator.
Bit idea: China should just fuck with Trump and actually call him then just keep saying "we have no idea what he’s talking about he definitely hasn’t talked to anybody associated with us, we’re assuming your geriatric demented president is being scammed by somebody claiming to be us.
The things that Trump says are contradicting. On Friday, he said that he talked with Xi to reduce tariffs. Yesterday he said again that tariffs would replace income tax. He can’t both remove tariffs and use tariffs to replace income tax.
He also has said that tariffs were intended to bring manufacturing jobs back to the US. If manufacturing is brought back to the US, (which is very unlikely) then he can’t fund the government through tariffs because then more products would be sourced domestically.
I don’t think Trump’s action can be explained rationally. It’s kind-of too late for it all to be a bluff. Even if he lies now and claims there is a deal, the damage is already done. Imports from China have already been slowed. If he gets no concessions from China, then the US economy took a massive hit for no reason and I’m not sure that people will believe that.
No but he can simultaneously claim to do both, 60% of the population will believe him, liberals will (justifiably if I’m being honest) start tearing their hair out and ask how the fuck is this actually working for him and then another 30% of the country will say libs are too obsessed with Trump.