China Fires Back at Trump: ‘Drop the Trade Talk Fiction’

Beijing slams former US president’s narrative as ‘confusion campaign’—because nothing says ‘stable markets’ like geopolitical saber-rattling over soybeans and semiconductors.

Trade war PTSD flares as China demands factual dialogue—meanwhile, crypto traders shrug and buy the dip like it’s just another Tuesday.

Beijing says talks don’t exist and tells US to stop misleading people

Guo’s comments weren’t the only ones. Commerce ministry spokesperson He Yadong also said nothing was happening.

“At present there are absolutely no negotiations on the economy and trade between China and the US,” he told reporters in Mandarin. He also said that any statements about progress should be dismissed.

“If the US really wants to resolve the problem, it should cancel all the unilateral measures on China,” he added. The US tariffs on Chinese goods now stand at 145%. In response, China has put a 125% tariff on American imports. These numbers weren’t just announced overnight.

The fight started on April 2 when Trump kicked off a new wave of import duties. Since then, both countries have hit each other back and forth. Now, global companies are stuck, and markets aren’t even reacting anymore.

This week, the Trump administration said the situation can’t go on like this. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said there might be room to reduce tariffs on some Chinese goods, depending on how Beijing responds. But even as Trump and Bessent claimed there was progress, the Chinese side said there was none.

The foreign ministry and commerce ministry agreed on one thing: the US is lying. They said China would only talk if Washington drops the power games and treats them as equals. Until then, nothing’s going to happen.

China says it’s done playing nice and warns others not to side with US

China’s top leaders held a policy meeting this morning. They focused on how to help local businesses survive what they called “external shocks.” These shocks are the direct result of the tariff war.

Officials reportedly said companies will get help selling their products inside the country instead of abroad. The Commerce Ministry said the government is now helping exporters sell their goods domestically because the global market has become too unstable.

Reuters also claims that China is considering exempting some US imports from the 125% tariffs, which would be the clearest sign yet that Beijing is worried about the damage. But Guo Jiakun said he wasn’t familiar with any of that. He made it clear no one in the ministry had been briefed on it.

Economist Yue Su from the Economist Intelligence Unit said China has changed its game plan. “Due to the inconsistency of Trump’s policies and the lack of clarity around what he actually wants, China’s strategy has shifted from focusing on ‘what you need’ to ‘what I need.’” She said China’s push for the US to cancel all “unilateral” tariffs shows it no longer cares about pleasing Washington.

The anger from Beijing wasn’t only directed at the US Officials. It also warned other countries not to cut any backdoor deals with Washington that would hurt China’s interests. Su said this moment has become a “whatever it takes” situation for Beijing. If things escalate again, she said, China will respond even harder.

Several US banks have cut their China growth forecasts in recent weeks. The effects of the tariff war are piling up, and no one believes there’s an end in sight. But inside the White House, Trump still acts like things are improving.

Right now, the US is China’s biggest single-country trade partner. But on a regional scale, Southeast Asia has passed the European Union to become China’s top trading partner. That change didn’t happen overnight. It’s been building over the last few years as Beijing started making backup plans.

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