Trump Says He's Holding Up China Deal
China wants to make a deal very badly, President Donald Trump told reporters on the White House lawn June 11. " It's me, right now that's holding up the deal," he said.
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"Look, we had a deal with China, and then they went back on the deal. They said they don't want to have four major points, five major points. Unless they go back to that deal, I have no interest. Right now we're taking in billions and billions of dollars."
Trump said China wants a deal because companies are leaving China to go to Vietnam, other countries, and return to the U.S., so that they don't have to pay higher tariffs.
Trump expressed confidence that he'd meet with Chinese President Xi Jingping to talk trade at the end of the month at the G20 summit of the world's largest economies. But on June 10, when Trump called into CNBC to complain about the Chamber of Commerce's position on tariffs, he said if that meeting was not scheduled, he'd tax nearly all remaining imports from China at 25 percent. "Look from our standpoint, the best deal we can have is 25 percent on $600 billion," he said.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, talking to reporters on a conference call on June 11, said he has no insight on how long the China trade war will continue. "All I can say is, it’s up to the Chinese. I would say if the hurt’s enough, it would end tomorrow. If they called up Lighthizer right this very minute he’d be on the next plane to Beijing."
There have not been top-level talks for a month, since American officials said that China went back on some commitments they'd made during months of negotiations. "It’s kind of discouraging." Grassley, R-Iowa, said of the status of trade negotiations at present between the two largest economies.
According to Reuters, President Xi Jingping recently said, "It’s hard to imagine a complete break of the United States from China or of China from the United States. We are not interested in this, and our American partners are not interested in this. President Trump is my friend and I am convinced he is also not interested in this.”