WASHINGTON: United States President Donald Trump has claimed that China is desperate for "sleepy" Joe Biden presidency to "rip off" America.
"China is DREAMING that Sleepy Joe Biden, or any of the others, gets elected in 2020. They LOVE ripping off America!" he tweeted on Sunday (local time).
In a series of tweets last week, Trump had claimed that the Chinese had attempted to keep trade talks alive, hoping that they would have an opportunity to resume negotiations with the former Vice President and his opponent.
Trump criticised Biden for being "soft on China" after trade negotiations between Beijing and Washington broke down last week. Biden has said in the past that he believes China is "no competition" for the US. "China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man," Biden had said at a campaign rally earlier this month.
Recently, the United States accused China of reneging on prior concessions and confirmed tariffs on 200 billion dollars of Chinese imports could increase to 25 per cent from 10 per cent on Friday. The possibility the tariff could be extended to another 325 billion dollars of imports not already taxed was also raised.
Tit-for-tat tariffs began in early 2018. Major sticking points in trade negotiations include technology transfer and intellectual property. Meanwhile, Beijing said it still remains "cautiously optimistic" about the future of trade negotiations with the US.
Speaking after the two-day talks in Washington, the head of the Chinese delegation, Vice Premier Liu He, said that despite "minor twists and turns" he does not see the negotiations as having been "derailed".