India, April 16 -- As trade tensions between US and China continue to escalate, President Donald Trump said that it was now up to Beijing to make a tariff deal with him.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt read a statement she said Trump dictated, "The ball is in China's court. China needs to make a deal with us. We don't have to make a deal with them."

"There's no difference between China and any other country except they are much larger, and China wants what we have, what every country wants, what we have -- the American consumer -- or to put another way, they need our money," the statement added.

This comes in the backdrop of the growing battle over the reciprocal tariffs between China and the US. Beijing recently ordered a...