US President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 30, 2025.
Jim Watson | Afp | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Wednesday called China the leading candidate for the “chief-ripper-offer” on trade, and tried to downplay the possible economic impacts of his tariff war.
“We’ve been ripped off by every country in the world, but China I would say is the leading … candidate for the ‘chief-ripper-offer,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
Trump continued to defend his unprecedented 145% tariff rate on Chinese imports, even as analysts and business leaders warn of the looming economic damage they would cause, including shocks to the U.S. supply chain.
The president also appeared to be unmoved by the idea that American consumers will face empty store shelves if his trade war drags on.
“Somebody said, ‘oh, the shelves are gonna be empty.’ Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more,” Trump said at the Cabinet meeting.
The last time Americans faced shortages and empty shelves was during the Covid-19 pandemic five years ago. At the time, the supply chain shocks were the result of massive international trade disruptions caused by pandemic restrictions.
This time, the shortages would be caused by the president’s deliberate trade policies.
Trump also argued that the U.S. does not need many of the products produced in China, even as the country remains a major source of U.S. imports.
“They have ships that are loaded up with stuff, much of which, not all of it, but much of which we don’t need,” he said.
Trump’s remarks come as the administration claims that negotiations are underway with Beijing, but U.S. officials remain cagey on any details, such as who is negotiating, or where, or with which Chinese counterparts.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sidestepped Tuesday when asked by CNBC whether he was leading trade negotiations with China. Trump, he said, “is leading all of the negotiations.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, however, says negotiations with Beijing fall squarely in Bessent’s purview.
The U.S.-China trade relationship “needs to be deescalated, as Secretary Bessent has said. And it’s his responsibility, and the president has given that responsibility, and I — and we all hope he can bring it home,” Lutnick told Newsmax on Wednesday, referring to Bessent.
A day earlier, Lutnick had told CNBC’s Brian Sullivan, “My portfolio is the rest of the world’s trade deals.”
Meanwhile, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Guo Jiakun, denied earlier this week that Beijing was negotiating on tariffs with Washington.
“As far as I know, there have not been any calls between the two presidents recently,” the spokesman said.