Trump Optimistic Before Trade Talks with China, 'Going Well with Good Intent'
President Donald Trump, preparing to meet a Chinese trade delegation Thursday, said the United States won’t reach any final trade agreement with China until he sits down again with President Xi Jinping.
“No final deal will be made until my friend President Xi, and I, meet in the near future,” Trump tweeted.
U.S. and Chinese negotiators on Wednesday opened two days of high-level talks aimed at settling a trade war that has weakened both economies, shaken financial markets and clouded the outlook for global trade.
Trump tweeted that the meetings are “going well with good intent and spirit on both sides,” even though the odds seem stacked against any substantive resolution.
Trump has set a March 2 deadline for increasing tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports from 10 percent to 25 percent.
He said: “All of the many problems are being discussed and will be hopefully resolved.”
The Trump statements came in a series of Twitter postings dealing with the U.S.-China trade talks.
China’s top trade negotiators are in the U.S. meeting with our representatives. Meetings are going well with good intent and spirit on both sides. China does not want an increase in Tariffs and feels they will do much better if they make a deal. They are correct. I will be……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2019
….meeting with their top leaders and representatives today in the Oval Office. 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….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2019
….China’s representatives and I are trying to do a complete deal, leaving NOTHING unresolved on the table. All of the many problems are being discussed and will be hopefully resolved. Tariffs on China increase to 25% on March 1st, so all working hard to complete by that date!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2019
But some analysts doubt that the world’s two biggest economies can reach any comprehensive deal over the next month.
The American delegation is led by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, a longtime critic of aggressive Chinese trade practices and of U.S. policies that failed to blunt them.
The Chinese side is led by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, according to The Wall Street Journal.
On Wednesday, the Journal reported, He brought “a package of modest concessions” to the start of the trade talkis, including “more Chinese purchases of U.S. farm and energy products and promises to invite more American capital into the manufacturing and financial-services sectors.”
However, the Journal noted, “the offer falls short of what Washington has been asking for, which includes deeper changes in what it calls Beijing’s protectionist industrial policies that hamstring U.S. competitors.”
The core of the U.S. allegations against China is that Beijing systematically steals trade secrets, forces foreign companies to hand over technology as the price of access to the Chinese market and unfairly subsidizes its own tech companies.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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