U.S. President Donald Trump is open to making a trade deal with China but Beijing should make the first move, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday, citing a statement from the president earlier in the day.

President Trump is open to a deal with Beijing on tariffs, but “the ball is in China’s court” amid the global superpowers’ trade battle, the White House shared Tuesday. Press secretary

Donald Trump believes it is up to China, not the United States, to come to the negotiating table on trade, the White House said Tuesday, after the US president accused Beijing of reneging on a major Boeing deal.

Tensions are rising across American academia as the Trump administration froze over $2 billion in multi-year grants and contracts at Harvard University after its leaders refused to make key policy changes the White House also is demanding of other elite US colleges.

Pete Marocco, the former acting head of USAID who oversaw thousands of cuts to the agency's programs and staff, has now left the State Department, according to a senior administration official familiar with the matter.