White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Thursday that President Trump may meet Chinese President Xi Jinping late next month, but appeared to downplay the chances of it happening.
“There may be a meeting, but it has not been set in concrete as far as I know,” Kudlow said on CNBC. “They have lots to talk about, so we’ll see.”
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Kudlow were the main ones involved in planning for the meeting. A prior attempt to get the two nations’ leaders to discuss trade issues last month fell apart after the Trump administration announced tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.
The U.S. has placed levies on $250 billion worth of goods from China and threatened to cover all of the rest with tariffs as well. It has also placed tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum ones, policies mainly directed at China. The recent U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement includes language prohibiting those countries from striking deals with China. Beijing has hit back with tariffs on $120 billion worth of US goods.
