Better act NOW! Trump threatens China with 'far worse' trade deal in his 2nd term

The self-proclaimed master of deal-making, US President Donald Trump, has warned Beijing against waiting out his term in hopes of a more lenient approach from a successor, saying he will insist on even worse conditions after 2020.

In an apparent attempt to coerce China into making concessions following a round of high-level trade talks in Washington that ended with no breakthrough, Trump resorted to a racketeering tactic, urging China to come on board with his terms now, unless it wants to deal with a much tougher post-2020 Trump.

In a string of tweets on Saturday, Trump rehashed his old argument that having a Democrat in the White House would be a favorable scenario to China in terms of trade.

"I think that China felt they were being beaten so badly in the recent negotiation that they may as well wait around for the next election, 2020, to see if they could get lucky & have a Democrat win – in which case they would continue to rip-off the USA for $500 Billion a year," he tweeted.

Dismissing the possibility of anyone but himself winning in 2020, Trump promised to produce conditions Beijing finds even less acceptable during his second term.

"The deal will become far worse for them if it has to be negotiated in my second term. Would be wise for them to act now, but love collecting BIG TARIFFS!"

Earlier on Wednesday, Trump argued along the same lines, tweeting that China's reported detour from the draft deal with the US is a sign that it is pinning its hopes on Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden or another one of "the very weak Democrats."

READ MORE: ‘Minor twists’ will not fully derail trade war talks with US – Beijing

With negations stalled, Trump has been portraying the trade deal as something Beijing wants much more than Washington. Tariffs are "much easier and quicker to do" and bring the US more money than a deal, he has been claiming.

To complement his "or else" tactics, Trump has been cranking up tariffs on Chinese imports. On Friday, a 15-percent hike on $200 billion worth of Chinese products came into effect. An increase in tariffs on all remaining Chinese goods worth $300 billion is also on the way.

The president did not rule out reversing the tariffs if there is progress in future rounds of trade talks.

Meanwhile, Beijing said it still remains "cautiously optimistic" about the course of the negotiations. Speaking following the two-day talks in Washington, the head of the Chinese delegation, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, said that despite "minor twists and turns" he doesn't see the negotiations as being "derailed

China earlier said that it would retaliate with "necessary countermeasures" to the new barrage of tariffs.

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