"You don't know whether or not China's going to eat it," Trump said of the potential for tariffs on Chinese goods to increase consumer prices.

President Trump defended his aggressive trade policies toward China, asserting Beijing would likely absorb the tariffs despite concerns about rising prices for American consumers. He dismissed economic anxieties,

China's factory activity contracted at the fastest pace in 16 months in April, a factory survey showed on Wednesday, keeping alive calls for further stimulus as Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" package of tariffs snapped two months of recovery.