WASHINGTON: A major US-China trade deal is likely to happen soon, President Donald Trump said Friday, asserting that Beijing wants to make it “big and very comprehensive”.
He also said China’s position has been weakened by the economic impact of the tariffs war with America.
Earlier in the day, China pressed on with its trade war truce with the US and announced that it will suspend extra tariffs added to ‘Made in America’ cars and auto parts for three months from January 1.
“China wants to make a big and very comprehensive deal. It could happen, and rather soon!” Trump tweeted.
“China just announced that their economy is growing much slower than anticipated because of our Trade War with them. They have just suspended US Tariff Hikes. US is doing very well,” he added.
Earlier this week, top officials from the US and China had a conference call on trade negotiations.
The phone call follows up on the 90-day tariff cease-fire agreed to by Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at a meeting in Buenos Aires on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit.
The US-China trade conflict stem from the Trump administration’s demands that China make sweeping changes to its intellectual property practices, rein in high-technology industrial subsidies, open its markets to more foreign competition and take steps to cut a USD 375 billion American goods trade surplus. PTI