President Donald Trump denied a report the U.S. will be suspending tariffs from China for three months.
The Wall Street Journal reported a Trump administration official is planning a three-month suspension of import tariffs from China to give U.S. companies trading overseas relief in the response to global coronavirus pandemic.
"More fake news," Trump told reporters at the coronavirus task force briefing, one day after holding a late-night call with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"Everybody keeps saying, 'Oh, you're going to suspend the tariffs, well, the answer's no, but President Xi never even brought it up last night. It wasn't even discussed. It's fake news. Tell The Wall Street Journal.
"You know, The Wall Street Journal does a lot of fake news, too."
Earlier in the briefing, Trump spoke about the Xi call and told reporters China, or any country, just is unwilling to talk trade right now, preferring to focus their efforts on stopping the global coronavirus pandemic. Trump said he and Xi did not talk trade Thursday night.
The Jounral report cited a senior administration official saying, "customs duties will be suspended for three months."
The companies would still be on the hook for the tariffs at a later date, another source told the Journal.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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