In a marked contrast to his past criticism of China, Donald Trump has said he blames previous US presidents and not Beijing for its trade surplus with Washington.
Following a lavish ceremony and military parade at the Great Hall of the People in the Chinese capital on Thursday, Trump challenged his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to rebalance their countries economic relationship.
He also called on China to “quickly” fix the problem of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programmes.
“Both the United States and China will have a more prosperous future if we can achieve a level economic playing field. Right now unfortunately, it is a very one sided – an unfair one, but I don’t blame China. After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for the benefit of its citizens. I give China great credit.”
Later, the two leaders oversaw the signing of various business deals between the US and Chinese companies valued at around 215 billion euros.
The agreements included the purchase of US-made chipsets, jet engines and car parts.
However, it was unclear, how many of the contracts were new or simply past deals saved for President Trump’s visit.