Is Trump's claim that he doesn't want a trade war with China true?

US President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News that he does not want to impose trade tariffs against China, saying: "I do not want a trade war with China."

Trump stated: “We have a very powerful lever against China, which is called tariffs, but I would prefer not to use those levers because I want to prevent a trade war between the world’s largest economies by not using those levers.”

Trump’s new claim that he has no intention of starting a trade war with China contradicts his position and actions, both before and after he re-entered the White House on January 20, 2025.

The new US president, who launched a tariff war against China during his first term, has announced that his administration is considering imposing a 10% tariff on goods imported from China.

Before taking office, Trump wrote in a series of posts on the social network Truth that on the first day of his presidency, he would impose an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on all goods imported from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% on goods imported from China.

Trump is once again planning to launch a full-scale trade war against the world by raising trade tariffs, and in the process, he has adopted a policy of pressure and force to force US trading partners to accept and comply with Washington's demands.

This would mean an all-out trade war against many emerging economies, especially China, as well as European trading partners, especially Germany, and Western bloc partners such as Canada, Mexico, Japan, and South Korea.

Given Trump's opposition to the approaches and actions that constitute the international community's consensus on trade, a global alignment against Trump and his tariff war will gradually emerge, as was the case during his first presidency.