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U.S. and China Dig In on Trade War, With No Plans for Formal Talks
As trade tensions flared between the world’s largest economies, communication between the United States and China has been so shaky that the two superpowers cannot even agree on whether they are talking at all.
At a White House economic briefing this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent demurred multiple times when pressed about President Trump’s recent claim that President Xi Jinping of China had called him. Although top economic officials might usually be aware of such high-level talks, Mr. Bessent insisted that he was not logging the president’s calls.
“I have a lot of jobs around the White House; running the switchboard isn’t one of them,” Mr. Bessent joked.
But the apparent silence between the United States and China is a serious matter for the global economy.
Markets are fixated on the mystery of whether back-channel discussions are taking place. Although the two countries have not severed all ties, it does seem that they have gone dark when it comes to conversations about tariffs.
“China and the U.S. have not held consultations or negotiations on the issue of tariffs,” Guo Jiakun, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, said at a news conference last Friday. “The United States should not confuse the public.”
However, China’s Commerce Ministry said this Friday that it was now considering holding talks with the Trump administration after repeated attempts by senior U.S. officials to start negotiations. White House and Treasury Department officials did not respond to requests for comment about whether such outreach had occurred.
The standoff over when and whether Washington and Beijing will hold economic talks comes as the Trump administration is scrambling to reach trade deals with dozens of countries that could soon face high tariffs. On April 2, Mr. Trump imposed what he calls “reciprocal” tariffs on countries that he believes have unfair trade and other economic barriers. Those levies, which sent global financial markets plunging, were paused for 90 days to give countries time to reach agreements with the United States.
China, which reached a largely unfulfilled trade pact with Mr. Trump during his first term, has indicated that it has little interest in talking about a new agreement until the United States rolls back what it views as a barrage of aggressive and unfair trade measures.
Mr. Trump increased tariffs on Chinese imports to a minimum of 145 percent last month, in a bid to force China into trade negotiations. Chinese officials responded by issuing their own tariffs on American products and clamping down on exports to the United States of minerals and magnets that are necessary for many industries.
The economic toll of the tit for tat is starting to become clear. The International Monetary Fund last month lowered its growth outlook for both countries and the world, warning that the tariffs had made a downturn more likely. Government data released this week showed Chinese factory activity slowing in April and first-quarter growth in the United States weakening.
During a cabinet meeting on Wednesday at the White House, Mr. Trump acknowledged that children in the United States may wind up with fewer dolls that cost more. But he insisted that he would continue to push for a “fair deal” with China, which he described as the “leading candidate for the chief ripper-offer.”
The Trump administration is focused on trade deals with about 18 of America’s most important trading partners that are subject to the reciprocal tariffs. Mr. Bessent indicated that talks with China would operate on a separate track from the other negotiations.
The Treasury secretary is expected to take the lead on the China negotiations while Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, oversees most of the other talks. However, Mr. Trump has not formally appointed or authorized a U.S. official to negotiate on his behalf with China, leaving Chinese officials to believe that the Trump administration is not ready or serious about trade talks.
Mr. Bessent, who had an introductory call with his Chinese counterpart in February, said that he held informal talks with Chinese officials over issues such as financial stability during the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank last week. He said that they spoke about more “traditional things” but did not say that trade was discussed. The Treasury Department did not issue a summary of any meetings with Chinese officials.
In an interview with Fox News this week, Jamieson Greer, the United States trade representative, said that he met virtually for over an hour with his Chinese counterpart before April 2 but that there had been no talks since Mr. Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs.
Mr. Trump has suggested that Mr. Xi should call him to begin the talks personally, noting their strong personal relationship. But that is not how China typically handles important economic matters. The United States and China traditionally work out their economic differences through a structured dialogue with formal meetings and working groups led by a top economic official from each country.
“This very personalistic approach by President Trump, who wants to negotiate directly with President Xi, doesn’t match with the Chinese system at all,” said Craig Allen, a fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. “In the Chinese system, these things are carefully negotiated in advance, they go up multiple channels and it is highly controlled and scripted, and when it gets to the leader stage it is highly choreographed.”
Mr. Allen, who until recently was the president of the U.S.-China Business Council, suggested that China was most likely mindful of the acrimonious meeting that Mr. Trump had with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in February and that Mr. Xi would be wary of a situation that could lead to a public confrontation with Mr. Trump.
During the Biden administration, Treasury Department officials worked with China to create economic and financial working groups of midlevel staff members that were intended to prevent tensions over tariffs and export controls from spiraling out of control. Those lines of communication do not appear to be in use in the Trump administration, which tends to view them as a waste of time.
“That is exactly the kind of thing that these groups can help do — help make sure that the policy you deploy is well tailored to achieve the objective and communicates to the other side what you’re trying to achieve before it’s too late and you instead have to react to potentially unintended consequences or a message that was not intended to be transmitted,” said Brent Neiman, a University of Chicago professor who was the Treasury’s deputy under secretary for international finance during the Biden administration.
During Mr. Trump’s first term, the president initially assigned the Treasury secretary at the time, Steven T. Mnuchin, to lead trade delegations to China. He later appointed Robert E. Lighthizer, his trade representative, who was viewed as more hawkish, to oversee the talks.
Veterans of that trade war believe the current deadlock could be more protracted because the tariffs are higher and both sides believe they are winning. If U.S. growth continues to slow while prices start to rise, it could add to the urgency for Mr. Trump to get real talks with China going.
“I think at some point we have to give them a graceful off ramp,” said Wilbur Ross, who served as Mr. Trump’s commerce secretary during his first term. “Whether that is somebody from our side calling them first or whether it’s simply appointing who will be our main representative — it may be at some point we need to make a symbolic gesture.
Michael Pillsbury, a top China adviser to Mr. Trump during his first term, said Beijing was most likely waiting to see what the deals that the Trump administration reaches with other nations such as India and Japan look like before engaging directly.
“They don’t want to start the formal talks because they want to know the bottom line from others first,” said Mr. Pillsbury, who speaks to U.S. and Chinese officials.
He noted that the trade fight has become a major point of national pride for China and that it believes that Mr. Trump’s demands — which Beijing does not fully grasp — will soften as American markets gyrate and midterm elections in the United States draw closer.
“Delay is very much in their interest, and a speedy deal is very much in Trump’s interest,” Mr. Pillsbury said.
Three San Francisco couples set out Monday for their annual road trip to Ashland, Ore., for the town’s famous Shakespeare festival. They drove separately and planned to meet at 6:30 p.m. on the terrace of their favorite Japanese restaurant there.
They had booked a table for six, but only four showed up for dinner.
Judith and Wylie Sheldon were found dead in their running car on the side of the road to Oregon, shocking their friends and family and leaving a hole in San Francisco’s arts and film world.
Ms. Sheldon, 84, was the daughter of William Wyler — who won three Oscars for best director — and chaired the board of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Mr. Sheldon, 86, was a prominent lawyer.
David Smith, who had befriended the couple more than 40 years ago, said in an interview that he and the others at the dinner table had grown nervous as time ticked on and their friends did not answer repeated calls to their cellphones. They learned they had not checked into their hotel either.
The friends eventually learned from one of the couple’s sons that the California Highway Patrol had found the couple at 5:46 p.m., both dead inside their running Jeep Compass. It was parked on the side of Interstate 5, north of Redding, Calif., more than 100 miles from their destination, the authorities said. Ms. Sheldon was driving, while Mr. Sheldon was in the passenger seat, according to the authorities.
The Redding area on Monday was under an extreme heat warning issued by the National Weather Service. Temperatures reached 109 degrees, according to the Weather Service.
Mr. Smith said he learned from the son that the couple had been found without any water or other liquids in the car. The fan was on high, but the air conditioning was not working, meaning they might have been blasted with hot air, Mr. Smith said. The windows were rolled down. The car had plenty of gas, and there were no signs of mechanical failure or foul play, Mr. Smith said the son told him.
“They didn’t crash. They stopped. They both just died there,” Mr. Smith said. “The entire thing is so bizarre. We’re still in a state of shock.”
The circumstances and cause of the couple’s death is under investigation but “appears to be medically related,” the Highway Patrol said in a statement.
Whether the heat contributed to the couple’s death “may be determined” by an autopsy, a spokesman for the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office said, adding that one had not been scheduled yet and could take several weeks to complete.
“We’ll just have to see,” the spokesman, Tim Mapes, said.
The Sheldons met at Stanford University and had two sons. They lived in a large home in San Francisco’s upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood that had views of the bay from the front and a garden out back.
They hosted many parties there on behalf of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival and sometimes let revelers pose for photos with Mr. Wyler’s Oscar statuettes. Ms. Sheldon fell in love with silent movies after first seeing those created by her father — before his better known blockbusters like “Ben-Hur” and “Roman Holiday” — only about 30 years ago, said Anita Monga, artistic director of the festival.
Stacey Wisnia, the festival’s executive director, said the couple was generous, delightful and unassuming.
Back in Ashland, Ore., Mr. Smith said the four remaining friends had distracted themselves from their grief by attending plays, including “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Come From Away.” They were able to give away their friends’ tickets.
Ms. Monga had last seen Ms. Sheldon just last month at the film festival, which was held at the newly remade Castro Theater.
“This is such a shock,” Ms. Monga said of the deaths. “Also because it’s still a mystery.”
Luigi Mangione appears for a pretrial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, June 17, 2026.
Angelina Katsanis/AP
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Angelina Katsanis/AP
New York — In a dramatic reversal, Luigi Mangione’s legal team on Thursday backed away from a plan to use a psychiatric defense when his case goes to trial in state court in September. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to murdering health insurance CEO Brian Thompson in 2024 on a Manhattan street.
At a hearing only a day earlier before state Judge Gregory Carro, Mangione’s attorneys confirmed that Mangione had been undergoing psychiatric evaluation. They signaled that his defense would be based at least in part on the argument that Mangione was experiencing “extreme emotional disturbance.”
But in a one-line letter sent to Carro on Thursday, Mangione’s team said that “at this time” they no longer intend to introduce psychiatric evidence during the trial. It’s unclear what sparked the shift. Mangione’s team didn’t respond to NPR’s request for comment.
Former Manhattan prosecutor and legal analyst Gary Galperin told NPR it was a “stunning reversal” for Mangione to withdraw from the psychiatric defense. “One can only speculate at this point as to the reasons,” he said.
“What remains, of course, at this point is the question of what defense they will pursue at trial,” he added.
This maneuver came after Carro ordered Mangione’s attorneys to quickly share psychiatric information with prosecutors.
“They need to know what the malady is that this defendant suffers and how that triggered extreme emotional distress,” he said, during Wednesday’s hearing. “I’m not going to let you surprise people on the eve of trial. Get it done.”
Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Joel Seidemann repeatedly complained that Mangione’s team was “stonewalling” the prosecution by withholding medical information about his psychiatric state. “We have gotten nothing,” Seidemann said.
Mangione’s lead attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo denied her team was delaying the court process or improperly withholding information.
But legal analyst Richard Schoenstein says by withdrawing the psychiatric defense, Mangione’s team “is avoiding the court deadline to produce its psychiatric evidence.”
According to Schoenstein, this latest move “does not entirely foreclose” Mangione’s team from returning to some form of psychiatric argument during the trial, but he added that such a defense would now be far more difficult.
Mangione’s case has drawn worldwide attention. Legal experts say the 28-eight-year old has drawn an unusual level of public support because of his criticism of the health insurance industry. Thompson, a father of two, was CEO of UnitedHealthcare at the time of his murder.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Carro also indicated that a tranche of court documents would be made public that apparently relate to Mangione’s potential psychiatric defense. On Thursday, Carro reversed course.
In a signed order, he said that because Mangione will no longer present psychiatric evidence, “the court’s previous order sealing certain transcripts, emails, and documents, remains in effect.”
Mangione’s state trial is scheduled to begin in early September, with a federal trial expected to take place later.
The museums, designed by conservative nonprofits and Trump appointees, tell the story of early America, from colonization to revolution. The one exhibition looking beyond the early years is the “Wall of American Heroes.” It is a list of 51 people, chosen to illustrate 250 years of American history.
A White House spokesman said they were “individuals who shaped this nation’s history, culture and spirit across generations.”
The people pictured on this national honor roll — and the people left out — help illustrate what this administration sees as the highlights of American history.
Amid the administration’s efforts to reshape the nation’s relationship with its past, Trump appointees heavily weighted the list toward a single era of American history — and a few specific kinds of hero.
The other exhibitions in the Freedom Trucks were crafted by a pair of conservative nonprofits, PragerU and Hillsdale College. But the “Wall of American Heroes” was created by Freedom 250, a nonprofit effort whose leaders were chosen by President Trump and that was created to lead the planning of celebrations of the nation’s 250th birthday, overshadowing a bipartisan congressional commission.
A spokeswoman for Freedom 250 said Mr. Trump was not directly involved in the selection of those featured.
But the list clearly tracks Mr. Trump’s own lifetime and the heroes of the conservative political movement.
The wall’s tilt toward heroes of the baby boomer generation, for instance, extends beyond Hollywood stars and musicians. Of the four religious leaders on the list, two — Archbishop Fulton Sheen and the Rev. Billy Graham — also appeared on TV regularly in the 1950s and 1960s. The only painter on the list is Norman Rockwell, known for his idealized depictions of American life in that period.
By contrast, there is only a handful of figures from the first decades of American independence.
“That’s a disservice, if your intention is to present the last 250 years,” said Sarah Weicksel, the executive director of the American Historical Association. “Because all of the people on this list are building on the work and struggles and progress that was made by the people in the 150 years prior.”
The “Wall of American Heroes” was inspired by a similar display in a traveling museum created by the State of Virginia. But Virginia’s display celebrates little-known historical figures.
Mr. Trump’s, by and large, celebrates people who are already well-known — and, often, people who were famous in their own time. For example, it praises P.T. Barnum, a circus impresario who used hoaxes and freak shows to draw crowds. The wall calls him an “icon of American sensationalism.”
The spokeswoman for Freedom 250 said that many of the names on the wall were drawn from a list of 250 people that Mr. Trump wants to include in a “Garden of American Heroes” in Washington.
The spokeswoman declined to say what criteria were used to narrow down the list.
The only president whose name appears on the wall — not on the list of heroes, but alongside his quotation — is Mr. Trump himself.
Explore the Wall of Heroes
Navigate the display by dragging from side to side.
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