Search the news, stories & people Personalise the news and stay in the know Emergency Backstory Newsletters 中文新闻 BERITA BAHASA INDONESIA TOK PISIN Topic:Trade Mr Trump asserted that he would continue to "set prices" for nations trading with the US.  (Reuters: Nathan Howard) US President Donald Trump has given an interview to Time magazine in which he said Chinese president Xi Jinping had called him amidst a trade war between their countries. Claims that the two countries were in negotiations on tariffs were refuted by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. China has, however, quietly exempted some US goods from its steep import levies.   Mr Trump said the US has made 200 trade deals and he expected to have them signed off in three or four weeks.  US President Donald Trump says China's President Xi Jinping called him and their two countries are negotiating a tariff deal, but Beijing refutes talks are ongoing.  It came as China quietly exempted some US goods from its steep import levies in a sign that the trade war between the two countries could be easing.  In a wide-ranging interview with Time Magazine, Mr Trump said it was his Chinese counterpart who had made contact.  "He's called. And I don't think that's a sign of weakness on his behalf," he told the magazine. He said the US had made 200 tariff deals and expected to have them signed off in three or four weeks.  "We're meeting with China. We're doing fine with everybody. But ultimately, I've made all the deals," he said. The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comments about the call.  Its spokesman Guo Jiakun rejected claims the two countries were in talks to cut tariffs, however.  "China and the US are not having any consultation or negotiation on tariffs," he said.  Beijing has previously accused Mr Trump of "misleading the public" about bilateral tariff negotiations.  Earlier this month, Mr Trump placed import taxes of 145 per cent on China and Beijing responded by placing 125 per cent tariffs on US goods.  The United States president says American tariffs on Chinese imports will come down "substantially" from the current rate of 145 per cent. Asked what the pair discussed in the phone call, Mr Trump failed to answer, but spoke more broadly about his tariff agenda as he likened the US to a department store. "I am this giant store," he told the magazine. "It's a giant, beautiful store, and everybody wants to go shopping there.  "And on behalf of the American people, I own the store, and I set prices, and I'll say, if you want to shop here, this is what you have to pay." The relationship between Trump and Xi has gotten increasingly tense since the US president announced his "liberation day".  (Reuters: Kevin Lamarque) Mr Trump spoke to reporters as he left for Pope Francis's funeral on Friday, local time, and was asked about his phone call with Mr Xi.  He said: "I don't want to comment on that, but I've spoken to him numerous times."  Pressed further, he declined to give more detail and added he would say more "at the appropriate time." During the interview, Mr Trump insisted there is "200 deals" between various companies and countries to be announced within the coming weeks.  Officials from the Trump administration had met for talks with counterparts from Japan, India, South Korea, the European Union, Canada and Mexico, among other nations, he said. Mr Trump told reporters he was very close to a deal with Japan.  That is seen by analysts as a "test case" for other bilateral trade agreements, though talks could be difficult.. Mr Trump gave little sign that he planned to shrink the baseline 10 per cent tariff, which Australia is among those subject to.  He insisted he is looking for other nations to cut their own import taxes and remove any non-tariff barriers. Most recently, Trump met with Japan's Economic Revitalization Minister Ryosei Akazawa.  (Reuters: Molly Riley/Handout ) "These are countries — some of them have made hundreds of billions of dollars, and some of them have made just a lot of money," he told the magazine.  "Very few of them have made nothing because the United States was being ripped off by every, almost every country in the world, in the entire world.  "So I will set a price, and when I set the price, and I will set it fairly according to the statistics, and according to everything else."  There are no winners in a US-China trade war. The question is which country can endure the most pain and emerge with the least damage. He also denied market turmoil was behind his 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs.  "The bond market was getting the yips, but I wasn’t," he said. "Because I know what we have.  "I know what we have, but I also know we won't have it for long if we allowed four more years of the gross incompetence."  ABC/Reuters Topic:Courts Topic:World Politics Topic:Unrest, Conflict and War Topic:NRL Topic:ANZAC Day Topic:NRL Topic:Courts Topic:World Politics China Government and Politics Trade United States World Politics Topic:Courts Topic:World Politics Topic:Unrest, Conflict and War Topic:NRL Topic:ANZAC Day Topic:Trade Topic:Unrest, Conflict and War Topic:NRL Topic:World Politics We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians