Trump pushes back on Wall Street Journal: ‘We are under no pressure to make a deal with China’

President Trump on Thursday pushed back on a Wall Street Journal article claiming that the U.S. is facing new pressure to make a trade deal with China.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Wednesday invited Chinese officials to a new round of talks later this month over U.S. threatened tariffs on Chinese exports worth $200 billion, and a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters Thursday that Beijing welcomed the invitation.

{mosads}The Journal reported that the U.S. reached out because of political pressure on Trump to ease up on trade fights ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Trump, who has already imposed billions of dollars in sanctions on Chinese imports, disputed that reasoning:

The Wall Street Journal has it wrong, we are under no pressure to make a deal with China, they are under pressure to make a deal with us. Our markets are surging, theirs are collapsing. We will soon be taking in Billions in Tariffs & making products at home. If we meet, we meet?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 13, 2018 

A broad coalition of U.S. businesses, from farmers to retailers, have, however, been fighting back against Trump’s tariffs, warning that they are hurting the U.S. economy. 

A new group, called Americans for Free Trade, composed of nearly 100 trade associations, launched a campaign Wednesday to lobby lawmakers and organize nationwide events in opposition to Trump’s trade policies. 

“While we agree that there are issues that need to be addressed with key trading partners, tariffs are the wrong approach to bring about meaningful change,” the groups wrote in a letter to Congress. “Every day, companies large and small are sharing their stories of the harm the tariffs and ensuing retaliation are causing across all sectors of the American economy.”

—Sylvan Lane contributed.