The American head of state commented at a news conference mere hours after the US midterm elections, while voicing plans to ratchet up pressure on the Chinese government.
"One of the things I think can help heal is the success of our country," Trump said, citing relations with China as an example.
"Billions of dollars will soon be pouring into our treasury from taxes that China is paying for us," President Trump said. "China's come down tremendously. China would have superseded us in two years as an economic power. Now they're not even close."
"I said, China '25 is very insulting because China '25 means in 2025 they are going to take over, economically, the world," Trump stated. "I said, 'that's not happening.'"
Several Democrats, including Heidi Heitkamp [D-ND] and Claire McCaskill [D-MO], lost their seats to Republican nominees. However, Sen. Sherrod Brown [D-OH] kept his seat after backing Trump's trade war.
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Trump will meet Chinese president Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and believes that the two will have a "good meeting" despite ongoing tensions.
"We're going to try and make a deal with China because I want to have great relationships with President Xi, as I do, and also with China," he claimed.
US Shutting Down, China Opening Up
Despite the US president's comments, President Xi gave a keynote speech on Monday at the first annual China International Import Expo (CIIE), which is hosting over 172 countries, international organisations and regions, in addition to 3,600 companies and 400,000 purchasers.
The CIIE was "a major policy for China to push for a new round of high-level opening-up and a major measure for China to take the initiative to open its market to the world," Xi told his audience.
"All countries should be committed to opening up and oppose protectionism and unilateralism in a clear-cut stand," Xi reiterated while promoting the expo's slogan of "New Era, Shared Future".
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China will use the expo to increase imports, broaden access to Chinese markets, and facilitate international cooperation at multilateral and bilateral levels, Xi said.
"We are encouraged to hear from President Xi the reaffirmation of China's support of global trade, and China's plan to further open itself to the world," Asia-Pacific president for US agribusiness company Cargill Robert Aspell said. "This is a great start of the first CIIE."
Mr. Aspell has pledged to attend the second expo, among others.
China is currently celebrating 40 years of opening up its economy under "Socialism with Chinese Characteristics", which was spearheaded under former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping.
