President Donald Trump threatened a new escalation of the trade war with China, saying US tariffs on Chinese goods would be “raised very substantially” if no truce was reached with officials in Beijing.
Mr Trump’s comments at the Economic Club of New York highlight the trouble the US administration is having in its efforts to strike an interim deal with China that would bring a halt to the commercial conflict afflicting the world’s two largest economies.
After Mr Trump announced that a tentative agreement had been secured in early October, US and Chinese officials have been haggling over the details, including where a deal would be signed and whether Washington would roll back existing levies as part of such a settlement.