Trump says China deal may not get done in 2019
Denies tariff rollback is part of agreement
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WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump suggested on Friday that the U. S. and China may not complete a partial trade deal this year, raising fresh doubts about prospects for a commercial truce that once was expected to be signed next weekend.
“We’ll see what happens,” the president replied when a reporter asked if the agreement would be concluded in 2019.
Speaking on the south lawn of the White House, the president added to confusion over the state of the roller- coaster talks. He denied reports — which the White House had confirmed one day earlier — that he had agreed to remove some tariffs as part of an initial deal.
“I haven’t agreed to anything,” Trump told reporters. “China would like to get somewhat of a rollback, not a complete rollback because they know I won’t do it.”
The president’s remarks appeared to conflict with those of his National Economic Council director, Larry Kudlow. On Thursday, Kudlow confirmed the Chinese Commerce Ministry’s claim of a tariff accord, telling Bloomberg: “If there’s a Phase 1 trade deal, there are going to be tariff agreements and concessions.”
White House officials speaking privately also confirmed the Chinese statement.
Chinese officials have insisted that any deal must include the immediate removal of some tariffs and a path toward the elimination of all of the levies Trump has imposed since March of last year.
The president turned to tariffs last year to force China to abandon trade practices, especially in the high- technology area, that disadvantaged American companies.
The U. S. currently levies tariffs on roughly US$ 360 billion in Chinese imports and plans to extend the import fees to everything Americans buy from China starting Dec. 15.
Many administration officials opposed Trump’s decision to impose those tariffs on roughly US$ 160 billion in products, including popular consumer goods such as smartphones and laptop computers. The president now is seen as willing to scrap them.
Chinese officials also want the United States to lift the 15 per cent tariff that Trump imposed Sept. 1 on about US$ 112 billion in imports. In return, the administration is demanding that Beijing agree to more extensive intellectual property safeguards, according to two people familiar with the talks.
Trump’s whirlwind morning left unclear the state of the talks four weeks after he had announced an “agreement in principle” on an initial deal. Speaking in the Oval Office during a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, the president on Oct. 11 called the partial deal “substantial” and said it would pave the way for additional agreements in subsequent talks.
In return for cancelling a planned Oct. 15 increase in tariffs on Chinese products, Trump said he had secured Beijing’s promise to make annual purchases of US$ 40 billion to US$ 50 billion worth of American crops.
China also had agreed to toughen protections for intellectual property, open its financial services market to foreign companies and to foreclose depressing the value of its currency to gain a trade advantage, administration officials said.
The White House released no written details of the claimed agreement. But the president said a formal text would soon be prepared.
“I don’t think it should be a problem, getting it papered,” he said at the time, adding that he expected that to occur over the next four weeks.
Four weeks later, the talks are shrouded in uncertainty. Initial plans for Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to sign the “phase one” deal on the sidelines of an Asian-pacific summit in Santiago, Chile, next weekend have been abandoned.
The president Friday repeated his claim that any signing ceremony will be held in the U. S., possibly in Iowa or elsewhere in “farm country,” he said. Other U. S. officials have suggested alternative venues in Europe.
As prospects for a ceasefire in the 19- month U. S.China trade war rose over the past month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained almost 6 per cent. Friday’s blizzard of contradictory remarks caused a modest dip in stock prices.