Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich issued a warning on Fox Business Wednesday regarding U.S.-China relations, urging the Trump administration to approach every diplomatic engagement with Beijing with a high degree of skepticism.

China confirmed it would participate in the upcoming meeting in Switzerland at the Trump administration’s request but pledged to strongly resist any tariff increases and reject all forms of pressure or coercion. Appearing on “Kudlow,” Gingrich argued to host Larry Kudlow that China has a well-established history of disregarding international agreements whenever it aligns with its strategic interests.

“I think they’re going to meet and agree that they should meet. There’s not going to be any big deal,” Gingrich said when asked about the meeting in Switzerland. “But look, Churchill used to say, ‘Jaw, jaw, jaw is better than war, war, war.’ So I’m perfectly happy to talk with the Chinese.”

But he also warned that any deal with China must include a method of constant verification that Beijing is sticking to its part of the agreement.

“I think your key point is it’s not just trust but verify. It’s trust, but inspect, because you have to assume that to the degree they can get away with it, they will cheat on every single agreement,” Gingrich said.

“You’ve got to design agreements where you can monitor them every day, or you should expect to be cheated,” he added.

President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs while moving forward with new tariff increases on Chinese exports to the U.S., according to an April 9 post on Truth Social—just one week after unveiling the new import duties. During a Tuesday hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration is currently negotiating with 17 key trading partners, though China is not among them.

As Trump escalates tariffs to economically isolate China, Beijing is countering by deepening trade relationships globally. In response to U.S. pressure, China has expanded its economic ties with Vietnam, Malaysia, and European nations in an effort to offset the impact of tariffs, some of which have reached up to 245% on select goods.