Addressing the annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, via video from the White House, Trump described a “very good” relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying their countries needed only to make the trade relationship “fair”, not “phenomenal”.
He criticised Washington’s “massive” trade deficits with Beijing – America’s second-largest trading partner after Mexico – and blamed his predecessor, former US president Joe Biden, for letting the situation “get out of hand”.
“It’s just an unfair relationship and we have to make it just fair,” Trump said of China. “We don’t have to make it phenomenal. We have to make it a fair relationship. Right now, it’s not a fair relationship.”
“We look forward to doing very well with China and getting along with China,” he added.
According to US government data, America’s trade deficit with China fell from US$308 billion in 2020 – the last full year of Trump’s first term as president – to US$279 billion in 2023, the last year for which full-year data is available.