Trade Showdown: Trump Warns China to Cooperate or Be Cut Off

US President Donald Trump sent a message on Tuesday to China in which he declared that it was Beijing's responsibility to reach a deal with the United States. Trump, through White House Press Secretary Karoline Lavitt, stressed that China needed access to US consumers, and their spending. This underscored America's economic power.

Trump stated in a statement that "the ball is now in China's hands." "China must make a bargain with us - we do not have to negotiate with them." "There's no difference between China or any other country except that they are larger."

The Wall Street Journal reported on a new trade tactic by the Trump administration: it plans to use ongoing trade negotiations to economically isolate China. Sources familiar with the talks claim that US officials are trying to convince these countries to prevent Chinese companies from moving or routing goods across their borders in order to avoid Trump tariff.

This strategy is a major shift in the way it approaches trade, because it seeks to include global partners and extends tariffs beyond bilateral China-US trade deal.

"China's development for over 70 years has been based on hard work and self-reliance -- never on handouts or other peoples' generosity. It is not afraid of unjust persecution," Xi told state broadcaster CCTV at his meeting with Spanish Prime Minister.

A trade war unprecedented in the history of the world is rapidly taking shape between two superpowers, and both are waiting for each other to blink.

CNN reports that two senior White House officials have said the US won't reach out to China before anyone else. Trump told his team China had to be the first country to act, because the White House believed Beijing was the one who chose to retaliate in the trade war.