President Donald Trump on Monday said he expects to strike a "very strong trade deal" with China.
He predicted that the U.S. will leverage its military and economic power to secure favorable terms while avoiding conflict in the Indo-Pacific.
"I think we'll be just fine with China," Trump said during remarks at the White House, noting that Taiwan is the "apple" of Xi Jinping's eye. "China doesn't want to do that.
"First of all, the United States is the strongest military power in the world by far. It's not even close.
"We have the best equipment, we have the best of everything, and nobody's going to mess with that."
Trump said he anticipates "getting along very well" with the Chinese leader, particularly regarding Taiwan, and China's threats against it.
"Now, that doesn't mean it's not the apple of his eye, because probably it is," he said. "But I don't see anything happening."
The president repeatedly framed tariffs as a central tool of U.S. strategy and diplomacy, crediting them with what he described as the settlement of "eight wars in eight months."
"It's an amazing thing, the power of tariffs in terms of our country," Trump said. "Tariffs have always been used against us.
"We never used them against anywhere else. And now you have a president that, for national security reasons and other reasons, is using them."
Trump said China is currently paying tariffs between 55% and 57% but warned that the figure could rise to 157% on Nov. 1 if no deal is reached.
"I think that China will come to the table and make a very fair deal, because if they don't, they're going to be paying us 157% in tariffs," he said.
Trump also discussed leveraging aircraft exports with China.
"They threatened us with rare earths and I threatened them with tariffs," he said. "But I could also threaten them with many other things, like airplanes.
"We build their airplanes. We do a great job. They're largely Boeings. And we could stop the parts. We did stop the parts, actually, when they did the initial threat. That closed down over 400 of their airplanes."
According to Trump, Beijing has been forced to show greater respect toward the United States.
"In the past, they didn't treat other presidents with great respect," Trump said. "Now they're treating us with great respect. Now we'll see what happens."
He confirmed plans to meet Xi early next year following stops in South Korea, Malaysia, and Japan, describing China as "the one that people are very interested in."
"I think when we finish our meetings in South Korea, China and I will have a really fair and really great trade deal together," Trump concluded.
"It's going to be a great trade deal. It's going to be fantastic for both countries, and it's going to be fantastic for the entire world."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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