No Trump-Xi meeting before March 1 deadline

WASHINGTON, D.C.: US President Donald Trump said Thursday he did not expect to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping before a March 1 deadline in trade war negotiations between the two economic superpowers. “Not yet,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked if a meeting had been arranged for within the next month. Asked if a meeting could happen by March 1, he said: “No.” Trump has said that final resolution of the trade dispute would depend on him and Xi meeting “in the near future.”

There had been speculation that Trump might meet the Chinese leader after he flies to Vietnam in late February for a summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

The United States has threatened to more than double existing tariffs on Chinese goods at the start of March if there is no agreement on measures to reform China’s trade practices, which Washington says are deeply unfair.

But top White House economist Larry Kudlow told Fox Business on Thursday that while Trump was “optimistic” about prospects for a deal, there remained a “sizeable distance” separating the two sides.

The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 300 points following Kudlow’s remarks but pared some of these losses, closing down 0.9 percent for the day.

Last week, Trump and Chinese officials had expressed optimism during the second round

of talks in Washington about chances of striking a bargain but they released few details about progress in their talks.

The two sides have three weeks before US duty rates on many Chinese goods are due to jump sharply, which economists say could further weaken the global economy.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are due to travel to China next week to continue for the third round of trade negotiations.

Washington is demanding farreaching changes to Chinese industrial policy, which American officials allege involves the theft of American intellectual property and massive market distortions through subsidies and other measures.

AFP PHOTO In this file photo taken on Jan. 28, 2019 US National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow speaks during a briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC. Kudlow said on Thursday that Washington and Beijing were still a “sizeable distance” apart in their trade talks and that no date had been set for a meeting between the countries’ leaders.