The largest U.S. business lobby urged President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to withdraw new tariffs starting Sunday and return to talks in good faith to end an escalating trade war that is threatening the economy.
"At this moment of uncertainty, it is critical that our leaders take decisive steps to bolster the economy and avoid actions that could turn talk of recession into reality," Thomas Donohue, chief executive officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a Washington Post opinion piece Thursday.
Donohue's call for a tariff truce and resumption of negotiations between the U.S. and China comes as the world's two largest economies are set to impose new duties on each other's exports in an increasing tit-for-tat battle that has rattled world markets.