A definitive trade deal with China likely won’t happen at the G20 summit.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Tuesday that talks between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the summit later this month probably won’t yield a final trade agreement between the two nations, but would rather put the two countries on the path toward a deal.
“The G20 is not a place where anyone makes a definitive deal,” Ross told CNBC. “A trade deal is going to be thousands of pages. At the G20, at most it’ll be a 40,000-foot level, some sort of agreement on a path forward. It’s certainly not going to be a definitive agreement.”
The president is set to head to the summit of world leaders in Osaka, Japan, later this month, during which he is expected to meet with Xi for continued trade negotiations.
Talks between the two countries stalled in May, which prompted the Trump administration to hike tariffs to 25% on $200 billion in Chinese goods. In response, China increased tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. products.
Trump has since threatened to impose tariffs on another $300 billion in Chinese products, which represents the rest of the country’s imports.
In an interview with CNBC on Monday, the president said he would hike levies on China if Xi doesn’t meet with him at the G20.
“I think he will go, and I think we’re scheduled to have a meeting,” Trump said. “I think he’ll do, and I have a great relationship with him.”
Despite the president’s threat of additional duties on China, Ross expressed optimism the U.S. and Beijing would reach an agreement and urged people to “judge this administration by results” rather than “interim soundbites.”
“Even shooting wars end in negotiations,” he said. “I think eventually this will end in negotiation.”
