US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that there was a “really good chance” of reaching a bilateral trade deal with China.
Trump said, “If we can make a deal, we’re going to make a deal, there’s a really good chance,” while speaking to the media, a day before high-level trade talks resume in Washington.
“In my opinion, China wants to make a deal more than I do,” Trump added.
He said China has great respect for him, adding that there were only two important figures in whether or not the two nations strike some kind of trade accord: Trump himself and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
Trump said he was very happy with the way things are going right now, with heavy US tariffs bringing in “billions” of dollars in customs duties for Chinese goods, although many analysts have said that such tariffs are actually being paid for by US consumers in the form of higher prices on Chinese goods.
The US delegation for the trade talks with China will be headed by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, while the Chinese side will be led by Vice President Liu He.
The talks will resume just days before the US is scheduled to raise tariffs on October 15 from 25 per cent to 30 per cent on more than $250 billion in Chinese imports.
The latest round in the US-Chinese trade war came on September 1 with the imposition of tariff hikes from 10 per cent to 15 per cent on some $112 billion in Chinese imports, a move to which Beijing responded by placing 5-10 per cent tariffs on $75 billion in American imports.
Earlier in August, President had escalated his trade war with China by announcing that he would impose 10 per cent tariff on another $300 billion of Chinese goods that took effect September 1, prompting a swift rebuke from Beijing and jolting global financial markets.
“Our representatives have just returned from China where they had constructive talks having to do with a future Trade Deal. We thought we had a deal with China three months ago, but sadly, China decided to re-negotiate the deal prior to signing,” Trump tweeted