It will be ‘the biggest trade deal ever made’ says Trump of prospective agreement with China that he plans to sit down with Xi in the ‘near future’ to discuss
- President Trump said Thursday that he believes the fine points of a trade deal with China will ultimately be negotiated directly between himself and Xi Jinping
- Teased a meeting between himself and Xi to nail down the details of an accord that could come begin together today
- A Chinese delegation is in Washington this week to try to make a deal
- Trump talked to reporters prior to a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He
- Said he believes the accord has a ‘very good chance of happening’ and that it ‘will be by far the biggest trade deal ever made’ if it does
President Trump said Thursday that he believes the fine points of a trade deal with China will ultimately be negotiated directly between himself and Xi Jinping.
A Chinese delegation is in Washington this week to discuss the broad strokes of an agreement to end the trade war the two countries have fighting for nearly a year.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu Hu and Beijing officials are discussing disputes over intellectual property rights and drugs with Trump’s top economic and trade aides.
Trump told reporters prior to a private meeting with Liu that he believes the accord has a ‘very good chance of happening’ and that it ‘will be by far the biggest trade deal ever made’ if it does.
‘We’re trying to work out a new trade deal with China. I think it will happen something will happen,’ he said at a surprise Oval Office media availability. ‘But it’s a very big deal, that would be if it does happen, it would be by far the largest trade deal ever made.’
President Trump said Thursday that he believes the fine points of a trade deal with China will ultimately be negotiated directly between himself and Xi Jinping
A Chinese delegation is in Washington this week to discuss the broad strokes of an agreement to end the trade war the two countries have fighting for nearly a year
Trump laid out the perimeters of a deal with China before a meeting with the vice premier on Thursday afternoon
It wasn’t immediately clear where or when Trump expected to meet with Xi.
The meeting could come at the end of this month when he travels to Asia to meet with North Korean leader and Xi ally Kim Jong-un.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed this week hat a nuclear summit with North Korea would take place at the end of this month and that it would be at an undisclosed location in Asia.
Trump subsequently said he’d be meeting with Xi in the ‘near future’ to seal the deal on a trade accord that must emerge before a self-proclaimed deadline of March 1.
In tweets on Thursday morning, Trump said staff-level ‘meetings are going well with good intent and spirit on both sides’ now that Beijing realizes it would be better off negotiating with the U.S. than bearing the brunt of more tariffs.
‘No final deal will be made until my friend President Xi, and I, meet in the near future to discuss and agree on some of the long standing and more difficult points. Very comprehensive transaction,’ Trump said. ‘China’s representatives and I are trying to do a complete deal, leaving NOTHING unresolved on the table.’
Trump reminded in the message, ‘Tariffs on China increase to 25% on March 1st, so all working hard to complete by that date!’
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Trump said that he would be meeting with Xi Jinping in the ‘near future’ – but it wasn’t immediately clear where or when he expected the talks to take place
The meeting could come at the end of this month when he travels to Asia to meet with North Korean leader and Xi ally Kim Jong-un
He said twice on Thursday that it would probably take leader-to-leader talks for a trade deal to emerge before a self-proclaimed deadline of March 1
The World Trade Organization formally opened an investigation into his trade war with China, Bloomberg reported Monday, as Trump characterized his tariffs as a ‘big win’ for the United States.
Trump said, ‘Tariffs on the “dumping” of Steel in the United States have totally revived our Steel Industry. New and expanded plants are happening all over the U.S.
‘We have not only saved this important industry, but created many jobs. Also, billions paid to our treasury. A BIG WIN FOR U.S.’
Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs affect most countries, including China, with the notable exceptions of Argentina and Australia.
China retaliated with tariffs of its own on U.S. goods that Trump responded to with more penalties that he promised to double if the two nations cannot reach a formal agreement.
If a deal is not reached with Beijing by March 1, the president has said he’ll slap another $200 billion in taxes on exports from China.
He told reporters Thursday he thinks there’s hope for an agreement by then.
‘I think we can do it by March 1st. Can you get it down on paper by March 1st? I don’t know. I can tell you on March 1st the tariff on China goes to 25 percent.’
Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs affect most countries, including China, with the notable exceptions of Argentina and Australia
A new round of talks with Beijing are taking place this week in Washington.
Liu and a delegation met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Wednesday. They’re coming to the White House for a meeting with Trump on Thursday afternoon.
Trump’s optimism that a deal can be made stands in contrast to comments of some of his highest-ranking advisers.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said last week that the U.S. and China are ‘miles and miles’ away from a deal as he noted in a CNBC interview that the nations have ‘lots and lots of issues’ to discuss.
‘We would like to make a deal but it has to be a deal that will work for both parties,’ he said. ‘We’re miles and miles from getting a resolution.’
A trade deficit of $323.3 billion separates the two nations, the network reported, which makes it the largest gulf since 2006.
The president’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said that the talks with Liu will determine whether a deal can be made by the end of the 90-day detente that Trump and China’s Xi Jinping agreed on at the end of the G20 summit.
Kudlow told Fox News that President Trump does remain optimistic.
Even as Kudlow has regularly promoted the president as a free trader who wants no tariffs, President Trump has repeatedly said he’d be fine with leaving the ones he enacted last year in place.
Trump earlier this month at a Rose Garden press conference boasted that he’d taken ‘billions and billions of dollars in tariffs from China, and from others’ to the great benefit of the United States.
‘Our steel industry has come roaring back, and that makes me very happy. I think we’ll have to build a steel wall, as opposed to a concrete wall, because we have steel companies again. There’s something awfully nice about that sound,’ he asserted.
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