Very good chance of trade deal with China: Trump

By IANS | Published: October 10, 2019 10:38 AM2019-10-10T10:38:04+5:302019-10-10T10:45:04+5:30

US President Donald Trump has said that there was a "really good chance" of reaching a bilateral trade deal with China.

Very good chance of trade deal with China: Trump | Very good chance of trade deal with China: Trump

Very good chance of trade deal with China: Trump

His remarks to mediapersons here on Wednesday came a day before representatives from the Asian giant resume talks with US officials in Washington, reports Efe news.

"If we can make a deal, we're going to make a deal, there's a really good chance," Trump told reporters, adding: "In my opinion China wants to make a deal more than I do."

Trump said that the main question was whether or not he wanted to make a deal with China, and he said - answering his own rhetorical question - "Yes" but it must be the "right" deal.

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.

Wall Street on Wednesday recovered a measure of optimism that the two sides will be able to strike a deal to the months-long trade war that has sent the market seesawing up and down.

( With inputs from IANS )

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