President Trump attends G20: Warning China, causing trouble with allies

US President Donald Trump arrived in Japan on June 27 (local time) to attend the G20 Summit with a diplomatic offensive, warning China that the time was "ripe" for new tariffs, while accusing some of America's closest allies of being "freeloaders".

China warning about new tariffs

Asserting that he has the upper hand in the trade war with China, President Trump declared that he will not give up too much when negotiating with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the meeting on June 29.

"The Chinese economy is going down and they're going to want a deal," President Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network.

Mr Trump has imposed tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods in an effort to force Beijing to adopt intellectual property protections and reform a trading system that the US says gives China huge advantages through unfair trading practices.

The US President also made it clear that he is ready to impose tariffs on more than $300 billion of remaining Chinese goods.

"There are still $325 million of Chinese goods that I have not yet imposed tariffs on. The time is ripe for this tax," Mr. Trump declared on Fox.

According to the US leader, China is suffering heavy losses while the US is still benefiting from the current situation.

"What's happening is people are leaving China. Companies are leaving China, some are coming back to the United States because they don't want to pay the tariffs," President Trump commented on Fox Business Network.

However, Mr Trump announced that his previous threat to impose tariffs on the remaining Chinese goods at 25% could be changed to 10%.

The US and China were close to a deal before talks broke down in May 2018.

"We're 90% done," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC, adding that he looked forward to the meeting between President Trump and President Xi Jinping but stressed that "no deal will be made just for the sake of making a deal."

“The message we want to hear is that they will come back to the negotiating table,” the US Treasury Secretary said.

Picking fights with allies

In addition to President Trump's strong actions to "rewrite the rules" with China, Trump also strongly criticized his close allies. He called Germany "irresponsible" for not paying enough into the NATO budget.

"Germany is paying Russia billions of dollars for energy. They pay Russia billions of dollars but we are protecting them and Germany is irresponsible," President Trump criticized.

The US leader also complained about Japan - Washington's closest ally in Asia, the host country of the G20 Summit.

"If Japan is attacked, we will fight in World War III. We will go in and protect them. But if we are attacked, Japan will do nothing to help us. They will watch this war on a Sony television," Mr. Trump said.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, President Trump also expressed his desire to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit.

"I'm going to have a very good conversation with him. But what I say to him is none of your business," Trump told reporters.

Regarding the North Korea issue, President Trump said he would not meet with leader Kim Jong-un and said: "I will probably talk to him in a different form." President Trump has held two summits with Mr. Kim to persuade the North Korean leader to give up his nuclear arsenal and end the isolation of the country, but so far, this policy has not been very effective./.