Trump engaged in 'awkward high school situation' with China: White House reporter

A White House reporter called out president Donald Trump's "awkward" overtures to China to reach an agreement to end his trade war.

Secretary of state Scott Bessent said Tuesday that Trump's 145-percent tariffs were not sustainable and that he expects a "de-escalation," but the president told reporters that "we're doing fine with China," but he declined to say how those negotiations were going.

"I'm not going to say, 'Oh, I'm going to play hardball with China, I'm going to play hardball with you, president Xi,'" Trump said, using a mocking tone in response to a reporter's question. "No, no, we're going to be very nice, they're going to be very nice, and we'll see what happens."

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CNN's Audie Cornish was confused by the president's response.

"He's kind of his own good cop, bad cop," Cornish said.

Politico White House correspondent Eli Stokols said the president was trying to evade the topic because negotiations hadn't even started.

"Well, he's mocking the press as sort of a way to get past the question," Stokols said. "There are no talks with China that are happening, so he can say, 'Oh, I'm going to be nice, we're going to be nice.' I mean, ever since they ratchet up the tariffs, he has been sort of subtly or maybe not so subtly trying to kind of coax China to make the first move. You know, it's kind of this awkward, like, high school situation, but they want China to engage."

Finance leaders like JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon have publicly urged Trump to engage with China before a global trade war wrecks U.S. credibility in the global market, saying there was no need to wait to de-escalate.

"I think there are a lot of cues out there on both sides saying, you know, this would be better if we could get past the staring contest and get down to it," Stokols said.

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