President Trump said Friday that he would invite House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to any final trade talks with China to prevent the Democratic leadership from criticizing the deal.
“No matter how good of a deal I make with China — If they sell me Beijing for $1; If they give me 50 percent of their land and every ship that they have built over the last two years, which is a lot — the Democrats would say: ‘What a lousy deal,'” Trump said Friday at a White House press conference.
Trump added: “So what I am thinking of doing is getting Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, getting two or three of their brilliant representatives, we’ll all go down together (and) I’ll put them in the room and let them speak up.”
The president is set to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to talk one-on-one on trade some time in the coming weeks, though Trump indicated that they have still not settled on a final date and it may not happen until next month. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were in Beijing Friday to continue negotiations.
The administration has set March 1 as a date to show progress on a deal with China before raising taxes on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent, up from the current rate of 10 percent. The administration has lately hedged on the date however. Trump said Friday that he may extend the deadline.
