President Donald Trump said Friday that he will no longer be "Mr. NICE GUY" with China on trade , declaring in a social media post that the country had broken an agreement with the United States.
Hours later, Trump said in the Oval Office that he will speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping and "hopefully we'll work that out," while still insisting China had violated the agreement.
What deal Trump was referring to was not clear. But the rhetoric was a sharp break from recent optimism when he lowered his 145 tariffs on Chinese goods to 30 for 90 days to allow for talks. China also reduced its taxes on U.S. goods from 125 to 10.
"The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US," Trump posted. "So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!"
Trump said the tariff reduction had "quickly stabilized" the Chinese economy , though the decrease also brought a degree of relief to U.S. companies that said the previous rates had essentially blocked their ability to bring in Chinese goods and imperiled their businesses .