President Donald Trump called China a leading candidate for the “chief trade flow” on Wednesday and tried to downplay the economic impact of its tariff war.

"We have been torn apart by every country in the world, but what I'm going to say is 'Chief Traveler's lead … candidates," Trump said at a cabinet meeting at the White House.

Trump continues to defend his unprecedented 145% Chinese import tax rate, even as analysts and business leaders warn them of imminent economic damage that will be caused, including shock to U.S. supply chains.

The president also seems to have not wavered about the delay in the U.S. consumer trade war, which will face empty store shelves.

"Someone said, 'Oh, the shelves will be empty.' Well, maybe the kids will have two dolls, not 30 dolls, maybe two dolls will cost more," Trump said at a cabinet meeting.

The last time Americans faced shortages and empty shelves was five years ago during the 19th pandemic. At the time, the supply chain shock was the result of large-scale international trade disruptions caused by pandemic restrictions.

This time, the shortage will be caused by the president's intentional trade policy.

Trump also argued that even if the country remains the main source of U.S. imports, the U.S. does not need many products produced by China.

"They have ships full of things, a lot of them, not all of them, but a lot of them we don't need," he said.

Trump’s remarks were made out of rhetoric when the administration claimed negotiations with Beijing were in progress, but U.S. officials still had general remarks in any detail, such as who was negotiating, or where or with Chinese counterparts.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent avoided whether CNBC led trade talks with China on Tuesday. Trump, he said, “is leading all negotiations.”

However, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the negotiations with Beijing happened to be within Bessent's remit.

As Secretary Bessent said, it was his responsibility.

"My portfolio is the rest of the world's trade deal," Lutnick told CNBC's Brian Sullivan a day ago.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiang earlier this week denied that Beijing was negotiating tariffs with Washington.

"As far as I know, there is no phone call between the two presidents."