Mahathir: I'm mystified by Trump over US-China trade talks
Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he is mystified by US President Donald Trump for flip-flopping over trade negotiations between the US and China.
“Well, we are mystified because one day Trump says he doesn’t want to talk and then the next day he wants to talk and negotiate...
Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he is mystified by US President Donald Trump for flip-flopping over trade negotiations between the US and China.
“Well, we are mystified because one day Trump says he doesn’t want to talk and then the next day he wants to talk and negotiate.
“So I really don’t know what he’s talking about but I know that China has a firm stand: if you impose high taxes on their exports, then they will do the same on imports from the US,” he said in a press conference after the Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting at Perdana Leadership Foundation in Putrajaya today.
When asked about his thoughts if the trade negotiations were to fail this time, Mahathir (below) jokingly said: “Well, we would like to go to war with the US, but we do not have the capacity, so we just sit and watch”.
He also said he was not optimistic about the trade war when asked about the outcome of the talks.
When Mahathir first became prime minister again last May, he said he had no immediate plans to touch base with Trump as he described him as “a person who changes his mind overnight”.
In June last year, the prime minister had mooted Malaysia as a neutral ground for the ongoing trade spat between the US and China.
In light of the “quarrel” between the two economic powerhouses, he had said Malaysia could serve as an intermediary for trade between them.
In September last year, Mahathir had again said there is a need for Trump to be consistent, including over policy matter on Asia.
Last Saturday, the Trump administration had said that trade negotiations with China will resume after Beijing reiterated that the US needs to remove all existing tariffs for a deal to be reached.
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to resume trade talks last month and suspend new tariffs, but no time frame was given for further negotiations.
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