Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday that the administration had no timeline for completing phase two of its trade negotiations with Beijing, and that getting a deal before the 2020 election was not necessarily a goal.
“We dealt with a lot of important issues in phase one,” Mnuchin said during a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “If we get it done before the election, good. If not, fine. There’s no deadline.”
In an interview with CNBC Wednesday, President Trump indicated that he didn’t expect a follow-up deal with Beijing anytime soon and was instead focused on the European Union instead. “I met with [EU officials] yesterday. I wanted to wait until I finished China to be honest with you,” the president said. “I didn’t want to go with China and Europe at the same time. Now, China’s done.”
The Trump administration and China signed what they described as phase one of a trade deal last week that addressed such issues as currency manipulation, online piracy, and intellectual property theft. The first phase also obligated China to buy $200 billion in U.S. goods and services over two years. In exchange, the administration reduced some tariffs on Chinese goods, held off on imposing new tariffs, and removed China for the list of countries that manipulate their currencies.
Trump has previously said he expects to travel to China this year as part of talks on the deal’s second phase. The talks are expected to cover issues such as China’s subsidies for its domestic business and its hacking of U.S. companies.
