Mnuchin says US may maintain tariffs on China in 'phase two' deal

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods might not be automatically removed even in a “phase two” trade agreement with China, a statement at odds with Beijing’s demands for relief.

Mnuchin told the Wall Street Journal Tuesday that a follow-up deal with Beijing won’t automatically be a “big bang” that scraps existing levies on Chinese goods. Instead, he indicated, it might take successive phases of agreements to undo the tariffs. “We may do 2A, and some of the tariffs come off. We can do this sequentially along the way,” he said while in Davos, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum.