Trump says other countries' meeting was about "How do we screw the United States of America?"

In April 2025, as the US-China trade war escalated, President Donald Trump told reporters he blamed neither China, nor President Xi Jinping, nor Vietnam for the billions of dollars Washington had lost in trade with Beijing, and he described a meeting between other countries as an effort to harm American interests. Trump had raised tariffs on Chinese goods early in his second term, accusing Beijing of facilitating fentanyl's flow into the US; China answered with its own levies and rare-earth export limits, with duties on both sides nearing 150 percent before a pause for negotiations. The article charts how Trump's public rhetoric about China has swung from years of hostility to warm praise this week during a state visit by Xi to Washington, the first by a Chinese leader in 11 years.