China denies it’s in tariff talks with the U.S.

Officials say country open to dialogue but ‘no factual basis’ for active negotiations

A worker chats with a visitor at the booth for Exotica Freshener Co, a U.S. company selling fresheners, at the 137th Canton Fair in Guangzhou in southern China’s Guangdong province, on April 15. Ng Han Guan — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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By Huizhong Wu

The Associated Press

China on Thursday denied any suggestion that it was in active negotiations with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump over tariffs, saying that any notion of progress in the matter was as groundless as “trying to catch the wind.”

China’s comments come after Trump said Tuesday that things were going “fine with China” and that the final tariff rate on Chinese exports would come down “substantially” from the current 145%.

Guo Jiakun, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said during a daily briefing on Thursday that, “For all I know, China and the U.S. are not having any consultation or negotiation on tariffs, still less reaching a deal.”

“China’s position is consistent, and we are open to consultations and dialogues, but any form of consultations and negotiations must be conducted on the basis of mutual respect and in an equal manner,” Commerce Ministry spokesman He Yadong said.

“Any claims about the progress of China-U.S. trade negotiations are groundless as trying to catch the wind and have no factual basis,” the spokesman said.

Trump had told reporters earlier in the week that “everything’s active” when asked if he was engaging with China, although his treasury secretary had said there were no formal negotiations.

Asked Thursday about China denying there were any conversations ongoing with the United States, Trump said, “They had a meeting this morning,” before adding, “it doesn’t matter who they is.”

The U.S. president, a Republican, has expressed interest in a way to climb down from his massive retaliatory tariffs on Chinese imports to the U.S. There are mounting business and consumer concerns that the taxes will drive up inflation and potentially send the economy into a recession.

The Trump administration throughout Thursday continued to send mixed signals.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he had a “very successful bilateral meeting” on Thursday with South Korea, indicating that the two countries could settle on the “technical terms” for an agreement as early as next week.

Yet within minutes of Bessent saying that, Trump fell back on his argument from Wednesday and said it would be “physically impossible” to go through negotiations with dozens of countries and “we are going to, at some point, just set prices for deals.”

“Some will be tariffed,” Trump said. “Some treated us very unfairly. They’ll be tariffed higher than others.”

China also made it clear that talks should involve the cancellation of all tariffs it currently faces.