Hours before China retaliated with a massive new set of tariffs against the US, President Donald Trump tweeted an ultimatum to Chinese President Xi Jinping, telling him to make a deal or face economic hurt.

“You had a great deal, almost completed, & you backed out!” Trump admonished in a Monday tweet, suggesting that China was stalling in coming to an agreement in trade negotiations. This latest threat comes on the heels of Trump’s decision to more than double tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods.

I say openly to President Xi & all of my many friends in China that China will be hurt very badly if you don’t make a deal because companies will be forced to leave China for other countries. Too expensive to buy in China. You had a great deal, almost completed, & you backed out! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2019

..There will be nobody left in China to do business with. Very bad for China, very good for USA! But China has taken so advantage of the U.S. for so many years, that they are way ahead (Our Presidents did not do the job). Therefore, China should not retaliate-will only get worse! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2019

Despite Trump’s threat the same day that any retaliation by China would make things worse, Beijing responded in turn with a new set of tariffs of up to 25 percent on $60 billion worth of US imports.

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After the first round of negotiations last Friday ended with no agreement, Trump decided to call off the talks just as his dramatically increased tariff package went into effect. Although he initially called the discussions “candid and constructive,” no further talks were scheduled.

Over the following weekend, he demanded that China accept the deal already proposed by the US, or face a “far worse” deal after his re-election. In a series of tweets, he accused China of holding things up in order to try to strike a more favorable deal with the Democrats if they are elected in 2020, saying Beijing wants to keep “ripping-off” the US for “$500 billion a year.”

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The US and China have been involved in an all-out economic battle since early last year when Trump accused Beijing of stealing trade secrets and forcing foreign companies to give up technology in order to gain access to Chinese markets. The rival superpower’s tit-for-tat tariff measures have already affected hundreds of billions in mutual imports.

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