China woes help US in trade talks: Trump
President Donald Trump on Friday downplayed a revenue warning from Apple Inc that cited slowing sales in China and said China’s weakening economic growth puts the United States in a strong position as negotiators from the world’s two largest economies prepare for trade talks next week. Trump has slapped import tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese goods as he seeks concessions from Beijing on issues ranging from industrial subsidies to hacking, sparking retaliation by China. The measures have disrupted trade, hurt manufacturing, roiled international markets and slowed the global economy. US officials are heading to Beijing next week for the first faceto-face talks since Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping in December agreed to a 90day truce in the trade war as they sought to strike a deal.
“I think we will make a deal with China,” Trump told reporters at the White House after a meeting with Democratic and Republican lawmakers about the US government shutdown. “I really think they want to. I think they sort of have to.”
Beijing on Friday cut bank reserve requirements for a fifth time this year amid slowing growth at home and the punishing US tariffs on exports. “China’s not doing well now. And it puts us in a very strong position. We are doing very well,” Trump said. “I hope we’re going to make a deal with China. And if we don’t, they’re paying us tens of billions of dollars worth of tariffs — not the worst thing in the world.” Official data this week showed manufacturing has slowed in both China and the United States, though the US Labor Department on Friday reported a surge in new jobs in December along with higher wages.
The president downplayed the effects of the economic woes on US technology giant Apple Inc, which this week blamed slowing iphone sales in China for a rare reduction in its quarterly sales forecast.
When asked if he was concerned about Apple’s revenue cut and share price drop, Trump said: “No, I’m not. I mean look, they’ve gone up a lot.”