U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the State Department in Washington, U.S.. File.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Trump administration will pursue a relationship with China that advances U.S. interests and puts the American people first, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

Mr. Rubio on Friday (January 25, 2024) spoke today with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang, the first call between the two diplomats since President Donald Trump’s administration took office on January 20.

 “Secretary Rubio emphasised that the Trump administration will pursue a US-PRC (People’s Republic of China) relationship that advances US interests and puts the American people first,” said the State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce.

Also read | China and U.S. partners are moving closer as Trump returns to the White House

“The Secretary also stressed the United States’ commitment to our allies in the region and serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan and in the South China Sea,” Ms. Bruce said.

China claims most of the South China Sea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims.  Rubio also discussed other issues of bilateral, regional, and global importance with Mr. Wang.

In the first year of Trump’s first term, the U.S.-China ties deteriorated amid a trade war that unleashed a series of tit-for-tat tariffs.

Meanwhile, Congressman John Moolenaar,  Chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and Congressman Tom Suozzi introduced the Restoring Trade Fairness Act, the first bipartisan bill that would revoke China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR).

A companion bill has been introduced in the Senate by Senators Tom Cotton and Jim Banks.

This comes following President Trump’s new executive order, directing the Secretary of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative to assess legislative proposals regarding Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China.

In 2000, as China prepared to enter the World Trade Organisation, Congress voted to extend PNTR status to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), hoping the Chinese Communist Party would liberalise and adopt fair trading practices.

In another development, Senator Ted Cruz introduced the Protecting Military Installations and Ranges Act to protect Department of Defence installations and training areas from American adversaries.

The bill restricts the purchase of certain property by a foreign person acting for or on behalf of Russia, China, Iran, or North Korea.

“Foreign adversaries are exploiting loopholes to acquire land near our military bases and training routes, jeopardising the safety of our troops and the integrity of our operations,” Cruz said.

Congressman Dan Meuser has reintroduced the China Exchange Rate Transparency Act, legislation aimed at addressing China’s opaque and manipulative currency practices that undermine fair trade and global economic stability.

“China’s long-standing disregard for financial transparency and its manipulation of foreign exchange markets have tilted the playing field against US businesses and disrupted global economic norms,” said Meuser.

“This legislation demands accountability and insists on adherence to international standards of transparency and fairness,” he added.

The China Exchange Rate Transparency Act (CERT Act) directs the United States Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to advocate for enhanced transparency in China’s exchange rate arrangements.

A giant electronic board shows CCTV broadcasting news of U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration outside a mall in Beijing, on January 21, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday (January 21, 2025) said his team is discussing imposing a 10% tariff on China starting February 1 based on the fact that the latter is sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada.

“We’re talking about a tariff of 10 per cent on China based on the fact that they’re sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada,” Trump told reporters at a joint news conference at the White House along with Oracle CTO Larry Ellison, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, and Open AI CEO Sam Altman.

Also read | Trump 2.0 as disruptor of the global legal order

In response to a question, Trump said he is looking at February 1 as the date for the tariffs.

“For Mexico and China, we’re talking about approximately 25% [tariff],” the [resident said. Responding to another query, Trump said he did not “talk too much about tariffs” when he spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week.

When asked if he has asked Xi Jinping to intervene to stop the war in Ukraine, Trump said China has not done very much on that.

“He’s got a lot of power. I said you ought to get it settled. I had that talk with President Xi the other day too. I said we don’t want that crap in our country. We’ve got to stop it. I would have stopped it. I had to deal with him where he was going to give the maximum penalty, which in China is death penalty, for drug dealing and he was all set,” Trump said.

“He was going to give the maximum penalty to fentanyl dealers if they send [the staff] to the United States. And of course, Biden didn’t pick that up. I had that deal all done. It was all wrapped up,” he added.

“We were going to get it done and then the election went — let’s put it nicely. It didn’t go the proper way. I’m trying to be nice about it. It [election] was rigged and we had an incompetent president elected who never followed up on that deal,” Trump said.

He added that if there was death penalty, “they wouldn’t be sending fentanyl to Mexico, Canada and other places”.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi looks out into the audience after giving a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of a symposium on international affairs and China’s foreign relations in Beijing, on December 17, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

China’s top diplomat said on Tuesday (December 17, 2024) he hoped the incoming Trump administration would “make the right choice” and work with Beijing, hours after Donald Trump told reporters the COVID-19 pandemic had strained his relationship with “friend” Xi Jinping.

“We hope the new U.S. administration will make the right choice and work with China in a mutually-beneficial manner to remove disruptions and overcome obstacles,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a forum in Beijing, according to a statement from his ministry.

The remarks followed President-elect Trump telling his first news conference since his election victory six weeks ago that Chinese President Xi Jinping had been a friend of his and that “he is an amazing guy” but that relations had been strained.

“We had a very good relationship until COVID,” Trump told reporters gathered at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday when asked whether Xi would attend his inauguration. “COVID didn’t end the relationship, but it was a bridge too far for me.”

When Joe Biden was sworn in as U.S. president in January 2021, China said it wanted to cooperate with the new administration and imposed sanctions on former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and 27 other top officials previously under Trump.

The two superpowers have been setting our their positions ahead of Trump’s return to the White House. His first term resulted in a trade war that uprooted global supply chains and hurt almost every economy as inflation and borrowing costs shot up.

Trump has indicated he plans to pick up where he left off with Beijing, and has vowed to impose an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods to push China to do more to stop fentanyl flows into the U.S.

He also previously pledged to end China’s most-favoured-nation trading status and slap tariffs on Chinese imports in excess of 60% – much higher than those imposed during his first term.

In response, China is seeking to amass bargaining chips to kick off talks with a new U.S. administration on contentious aspects of bilateral ties, including trade and investment, and science and technology, analysts say.

Missing statement

The Jan. 20, 2021, statement on China’s sanctions on the former 28 Trump officials is also no longer found on the website of the Chinese foreign ministry. Asked to comment at a regular news conference on Tuesday, spokesperson Lin Jian said he had “no information to offer.”

“China and the United States can together solve all of the problems of the world, if you think about,” Trump said. “So it’s very important, and he was a friend of mine.”

That said, Trump has nominated China hard-liners to key diplomatic and economic roles in his administration, signalling his policy towards the U.S.’ main strategic rival could be even more confrontational than during his first term.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who has been picked by Trump to be the next secretary of state, is under sanctions from China imposed in 2020. It is unclear how the top China hawk in the Senate would engage with Beijing given the sanctions.

China is equally ready to go toe-to-toe with the Trump administration.

Mr. Wang told delegates that Beijing “firmly opposes the illegal and unreasonable suppression of China by the U.S. and, in particular, must respond firmly and forcefully to the U.S.’ brutal interference in China’s internal affairs, such as Taiwan.”