President Trump downplayed the March 1 deadline for China to make trade concessions Tuesday, suggesting that the date is not a major factor in talks between the countries.
“I can’t tell you exactly about the date. The date is not a magical date,” Trump told reporters when asked if the administration could complete the talks by the original deadline. “We’ll see what happens.”
The president and his officials backed away from the March 1 deadline over the past few weeks. Originally, the administration had said that it would raise tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods if the talks did not progress before then.
White House officials are meeting with their Chinese counterparts in Washington, D.C., this week to continue talks. The president said the talks are going well but did not indicate that a breakthrough was expected. Trump has said he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping to talk one-on-one on trade some time in the coming weeks, though no date has been announced.
The Trump administration has been vague as to how it defines progress in the talks. Last week, administration officials began leaking to news outlets that that it may no longer hold to March 1 as the deadline. On Friday, Trump confirmed that the deadline could be disregarded, telling reporters that “there is a possibility that I will extend the date.”
[Also read: End in sight for China trade war]
