Trump Says Trade War With China Is Only a Skirmish, 'and We're Gonna Win'

President Donald Trump said American consumers aren't paying more as a result of his tariffs. He said the Chinese don't have enough ammunition to retaliate at the same scale that the U.S. has in what he called a trade skirmish, not a trade war. Trump, who was speaking in a wide-ranging interview on CBS's 60 Minutes Oct. 14, said, "I called it a battle. But, actually, I'm gonna lower that. I consider it a skirmish. And we're gonna win." He said the Chinese want to negotiate, and he might levy more tariffs.

Interviewer Lesley Stahl asked Trump why he would be hostile to allies by levying tariffs, and Trump repeated his claim that the European Union was formed to take advantage of the U.S. on trade. "Nobody treats us much worse than the European Union," he said. "You know what's hostile? The way they treat us. We're not hostile."

In another televised interview on Oct. 14, the Chinese ambassador to the U.S. pushed back against Trump's view that the trade deficit with China means China has robbed the U.S. of wealth. Through the bilateral trade between China and the United States, "you know how much benefit American consumers have got over the years? and how much money American companies have made from their operations in China? It's important to notice who started this trade war," Ambassador Cui Tiankai said on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.

Cui said the idea that China's rise was fueled by industrial espionage and forced technology transfer is insulting to the Chinese workforce. "I think all these accusations about how China has developed are groundless and not fair to the Chinese people," he said. "The Chinese people are as hardworking and diligent as anybody on Earth."

Both Trump and Cui talked about the good relationship China's president and Trump have. Cui, who was present at the two summits the two presidents have had, said, "There's a good mutual understanding and a good working relationship between the two. I hope and I'm sure this will continue." Trump said he has "great chemistry" with President Xi Jinping, but added, "I don't know that that's necessarily going to continue. I told President Xi we cannot continue to have China take $500 billion a year out of the United States in the form of trade and other things."