US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he is on the verge of easing the China trade war, days before new tariffs are due to kick in between the world’s two largest economies.
Taking to Twitter, Trump said, “Getting VERY close to a BIG DEAL with China. They want it, and so do we!”.
Getting VERY close to a BIG DEAL with China. They want it, and so do we!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2019
Trump’s flagging of an imminent breakthrough comes ahead of new tariffs planned to take effect Sunday and also just as he is almost sure to become only the third US president to be impeached.
With his 2020 reelection battle heating up Trump is keen to seize the political initiative and show voters his punishing struggle with China has brought results.
Earlier on Thursday, China commerce ministry said that the two sides were in “close” contact ahead of Sunday’s deadline.
On Wednesday, Trump to reach a “phase one” deal with China in an effort to resolve the ongoing trade war between the US and China.
Last month, China and the US were “moving closer to agreeing” on a “phase one” trade deal.
President Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping both insisted that they would resist pressure to give ground on a trade deal that Washington’s leader said could be “very close.”
Trump further said that, when it comes to Hong Kong, he is balancing competing interests, stopping short of pledging to sign new US legislation to support the restive semi-autonomous city’s democracy movement.
Initially, Trump did not agree to roll back tariffs on Chinese imports, dampening recent optimism for a major de-escalation in the US-China trade war.
The United States and China imposed steep tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars in two-way trade, and another round of US duties are set to hit on December 15 on $160 billion in Chinese goods.
In September, the US had imposed fresh tariffs on $112 billion worth of Chinese imported goods, marking a sharp escalation of the bruising trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
Donald Trump launched the trade war as part of his “America First” bid to lower a wide trade deficit with China, but the tariffs imposed thus far have barely made a dent in that gap.