The White House reportedly extended an offer to Beijing on Thursday to postpone tariffs set to go into effect on Sunday and roll back some existing tariffs on Chinese goods. President Trump claimed that a trade deal announcement was “very close.”
The White House offered to hold off on 15% tariffs covering $156 billion worth of Chinese goods and cut existing tariffs on $360 billion worth of Chinese goods by 50%, according to the Wall Street Journal and CNBC. The offer was made following a conference by the administration’s top economic officials.
“Getting VERY close to a BIG DEAL with China. They want it, and so do we!” Trump tweeted Thursday.
Getting VERY close to a BIG DEAL with China. They want it, and so do we!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2019
“Trade teams from both sides are maintaining close communications,” Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng told reporters Thursday.
The tariffs scheduled for Dec. 15 would have been a combination of new levies as well as tariffs originally scheduled to go into effect earlier this year but delayed to protect the Christmas holiday shopping season.
The administration has said that it would postpone the tariffs if there were sufficient progress on “phase one” of a trade agreement it announced with Beijing on Oct. 11.
Beijing said Thursday that the White House rolling back some of its tariffs on Chinese goods was a key condition for a trade deal, while Trump reiterated the belief that the tariffs are good for the U.S. economy. The administration currently has 25% tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods and 15% tariffs on another $300 billion worth of goods.
White House officials declined to provide comment.
