President Trump’s top economic adviser Larry Kudlow believes China has seen a major economic slowdown as a result of its ongoing trade dispute with the U.S., remarking Thursday that the country’s economy “looks terrible” at the moment.
“Their economy is just heading south,” Kudlow told reporters during a Cabinet meeting, citing “the latest batch of numbers” from China’s markets. “Right now, their economy looks terrible.”
[China: Trade war with US means we’ll shop for groceries elsewhere]
Kudlow’s comments came hours after he announced U.S. plans to resume trade talks with officials in Beijing later this month, causing a surge in the stock market Thursday morning. Two previous meetings this summer between the Trump administration and Chinese government failed to produce an agreement or framework on Chinese trade practices, tariffs, or other issues like intellectual property theft.
As a result, both countries have engaged in back-and-forth threats and imposed retaliatory tariffs. Earlier this month, Trump said he was considering raising the tariff rate on $200 billion of Chinese goods to 25 percent, in addition to the 25 percent tariffs his administration already slapped on $34 billion of Chinese goods.
“The Chinese government, in its totality, must not underestimate President Trump’s toughness and willingness to continue this battle to eliminate tariffs and nontariff barriers and quotas, to stop the theft of intellectual property and to stop the forced transfer of technology,” Kudlow told CNBC earlier Thursday, adding that “those are the asks that we’ve been making now for quite some time.”
Speaking at the Cabinet meeting, Kudlow also said the “biggest story” of 2018 is the “economic boom” that has occurred as a result of the president’s agenda.
“Most people thought [it] was impossible and they were wrong,” he said.
