U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that trade talks with China were going very well, but cautioned that he would not accept anything less than a “great deal” after top U.S. and Chinese trade officials wrapped up two days of negotiations in Beijing.
"The trade deal is going very well," Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. "It is a very comprehensive, very detailed enlisting of problems that we’ve had with China over the years," Trump said of the talks. "And it’s going to have to be a great deal. If it’s not a great deal, we can’t do it."
The talks are set to resume next week in Washington with a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer were in the Chinese capital for the first face-to-face meetings between the two sides since Trump delayed a scheduled March 2 increase in tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. China’s state news agency Xinhua said the two sides discussed 'relevant agreement documents' and made new progress in their talks, but did not elaborate in a brief report. U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley told Reuters in Malvern, Iowa, that he has been told the Trump administration is planning to complete a deal with China by the end of April.
However, Trump administration officials, including White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, have said the negotiations are "not time dependent" and could take weeks or even months to complete.
Source: reuters.com.
