The Trump administration is nearing the “finish line” in striking a trade deal with China, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Monday
President Trump is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, for one-on-one trade talks.
“I think that it looks like [U.S. Trade Representative Robert] Lighthizer has made a lot of progress, and we might get there on China,” Hassett said in an appearance on Fox Business. “I think everybody’s hopeful, as the markets are, that this is going to get to the finish line sometime soon.”
[Read more: Going back and forth on China trade threats, never fully backing off, is a pattern for Trump]
In a tweet Friday, Trump said that in exchange for the administration putting on hold a plan to raise tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods to 25 percent, up from 10 percent, he had asked China to lift all of its tariffs in agricultural products.
Trump said on Sunday in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland that “we’re having a very strong negotiation, which [we wouldn’t] if it weren’t for tariffs — and I tell this to President Xi; this is nothing to hide … I was nice, and I left it at 10 percent on $200 billion.”
The summit between Trump and Xi is tentatively set for March 27, according to the Wall Street Journal.
