Long way to go on tariffs, China: Trump

washington — US President Trump said on Thursday said there was “a long way to go” on tariffs with China and urged companies to build products in the United States to avoid them.

Trump, who planned to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina, said in a Twitter post that tariffs on China were bringing money into the United States and “there is a long way to go”.

In a Twitter post on Thursday that appeared to be directed more at his domestic audience, Trump said: “Billions of Dollars are pouring into the coffers of the U.S.A. because of the Tariffs being charged to China, and there is a long way to go. If companies don’t want to pay Tariffs, build in the U.S.A.”

White House officials said this week Trump was open to making a trade deal with Xi when they meet.

China, meanwhile, is hoping for “positive results” in resolving a trade dispute with the US at the G20 summit, the commerce ministry said on Thursday, ahead of the closely-watched meeting.

Asked if China was seeking to prevent the imposition of additional US tariffs at the highstakes meeting, the ministry’s spokesman, Gao Feng, said economic teams from both nations were in contact to implement a “consensus” reached by Trump and Xi during a phone call this month. —