Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Monday it’s unclear how long it will take to negotiate a broad trade deal with China, but indicated it could be several months before a deal is reached.
“It’s going to take a while to see how far we really get, how much closure we get, and really the devil is in the details,” he said on Fox Business Network.
.@SecretaryRoss on China trade talks: “You can’t be tariffing people at the same exact time that you’re negotiating a detailed arrangement with them.” pic.twitter.com/PuEY4vFTWQ
— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) May 21, 2018
Over the weekend, the Trump administration said it would drop its tariff threat against China while it negotiates a range of issues, including China’s failure to respect U.S. intellectual property rights, and its practice of requiring some manufacturing in China as a condition of market access. He said while those issues are being worked out, the U.S. would not impose IPR-related tariffs against China.
“You can’t be tariffing people at the same exact time that you’re negotiating a detailed arrangement with them,” Ross said.
He also indicated that a decision by China to buy more goods could go a long way toward solving the problems.
“Increasing exports has always been a very big goal both of this administration and of the economy and business in general,” he said.
