He said, Xi said

Investing.com -- There continues to be lots of confusion around trade talks between the U.S. and China.  President Donald Trump said there have been talks, while China said there haven’t. 

In a recently published interview with Time magazine, Trump said that Chinese President Xi Jinping had called him.

“He's called,” Trump told Time. “And I don't think that's a sign of weakness on his behalf.”

When asked what Xi said to him, Trump compared the U.S. to a big, beautiful store.

“If people want to–well, we all want to make deals,” Trump said. “But I am this giant store. It's a giant, beautiful store, and everybody wants to go shopping there. And on behalf of the American people, I own the store, and I set prices, and I'll say, if you want to shop here, this is what you have to pay.”

Trump doesn’t believe there is any uncertainty, but said China has an option to shop in the U.S. or not.

“I don’t think there’s any uncertainty there,” he said. “The only thing—they have an option. They don't have to shop here. They can go someplace else, but there aren't too many places they can go. You understand what I mean though?”

Trump added that there is a number at which China will feel comfortable doing business in the U.S.

“Oh, there’s a number at which they will feel comfortable,” Trump said. “Yeah. But you can’t let them make a trillion dollars from us. You can’t let them make $750 billion. See, that’s really what’s not sustainable when China makes a trillion dollars, or a trillion one, when we have almost $2 trillion worth of, I call it loss. Some people don't, but a lot of it’s loss. I say, when you have a trade deficit of $2 trillion I consider that loss.”

On the recent bond market spasm, Trump said he wasn’t worried.  The President said it wasn’t Scott Bessent and Howard Lutnick that convinced him on the 90-day reciprocal tariff pause.  “They didn’t tell me,” he said.  “I did that.”  Trump added that the decision wasn’t related to the bond market worries.  “No, it wasn’t for that reason,” he added. “The bond market was getting the yips, but I wasn’t. Because I know what we have.”