President Trump said Thursday that if his administration strikes a deal with China to resolve their ongoing trade conflicts, it will be because he personally negotiated it with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“I think that probably, the final deal, if it is made, will between myself and President Xi,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Trump expressed optimism about the talks’ prospects, saying a deal had a “very good chance of happening.” He also said, though, that China would have to make significant concessions. “We won’t have a deal if we don’t open it to our farmers,” he said. “We won’t have a deal if we don’t open it up to our manufacturers.”
The president announced earlier in the day that he agreed to meet one-on-one with the Chinese president to discuss trade policy later this year. The meeting would be the first between the leaders since early December, which resulted in a cooling down of the current trade war.
“No final deal will be made until my friend President Xi, and I, meet in the near future to discuss and agree on some of the long standing and more difficult points,” Trump tweeted.
Talks are ongoing. The president is set to meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, China’s top trade official, in Washington Thursday. Both sides are working to beat the administration’s March 1 deadline. Trump has said that if there isn’t progress, he will raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent, up from the current rate of 10 percent.
