Trump admin to isolate China by pressuring trade partners to cut off Beijing
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday that President Donald Trump is “optimistic” that the U.S. and China can strike a deal over tariffs.
President Donald Trump and his administration are reportedly planning a pressure campaign to convince U.S. trading partners to isolate China in exchange for reduced tariffs.
The administration is negotiating with more than 70 countries to secure commitments to limit their dealings with Beijing in exchange for reduced tariffs and barriers to trade, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the discussions.
Trump administration officials will demand U.S. trade partners block Chinese shipping through their countries, prevent Chinese firms from setting up shop in their territories and commit to eliminating the flow of cheap Chinese industrial goods into their economies, according to the Journal.
The administration intends to use the commitments, which could vary widely by country depending on the level of their entanglement with China, to force Beijing to the negotiating table. U.S. and Chinese officials have publicly discussed potential talks between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping over the past few months amid the escalating trade war.
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President Donald Trump during a ceremony on the South Lawn on April 14, 2025. (Win McNamee/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent proposed the isolation strategy to Trump at Mar-a-Lago on April 6, according to the Journal. Bessent has been spearheading trade negotiations since Trump announced a 90-day pause on his reciprocal tariffs against most countries. The administration did not lift its levies on China.
The White House said Tuesday that China now faces up to a 245% tariff on imports to the United States “as a result of its retaliatory actions,” according to a fact sheet released to accompany Trump’s executive order launching an investigation into “the national security risks posed by U.S. reliance on imported processed critical minerals.”
Trump announced that he would be attending a meeting Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick are holding on Wednesday with Japanese officials to negotiate tariffs, the cost of military support and “trade fairness.” “Hopefully something can be worked out which is good (GREAT!) for Japan and the USA!” Trump wrote on TRUTH Social Wednesday morning.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)
At her briefing Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt read a statement to reporters that she said Trump had given her in the Oval Office.
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“The ball is in China’s court. China needs to make a deal with us. We don’t have to make a deal with them,” Leavitt said. “There’s no difference between China and any other country except they are much larger. And China wants what we have, what every country wants – the American consumer. Or, to put it another way, they need our money.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House on Wednesday about the reported “isolation” strategy but did not immediately receive a response.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is seen on the way to meeting Argentina’s President Javier Milei at Casa Rosada government palace in Buenos Aires on April 14, 2025. (LUIS ROBAYO/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Bessent has been mulling other potential anti-China measures, including further cutting Beijing off from the U.S. economy with tariffs and possibly removing Chinese stocks from U.S. exchanges, according to the Journal. In a recent interview with Fox Business, Bessent suggested delisting Chinese stocks remained another potential course of action.
Beijing, meanwhile, is conducting an influence campaign of its own. Xi is touting Southeast Asia this week and has vowed greater access for Malaysia and Vietnam to Chinese markets.
In an interview with Fox Noticias, Trump referenced efforts to secure U.S. control of the Panama Canal from China’s grasp, suggesting trade partners could be made to choose.
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“We don’t like the way it’s run, and we don’t like the China influence,” Trump said. “It seems like the China influence is gone. You know, when we looked at that a year ago, almost every single flag and every single statement was written in Chinese. Okay, I said we didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama. We shouldn’t have given it to Panama. And we’re working with Panama right now. We’re going to make a determination as to what to do about it.”
