White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Friday that trade negotiations between the United States and China could show progress this month because both sides have pulled back following a period of heightened tensions.
He indicated further that the Trump administration may scale back some of its demands that Beijing restore all concessions it made in May.
“Tempers are calmer now,” Kudlow said in an interview with CNBC Friday morning. He said that lower-level Chinese officials would be traveling to Washington in the coming days to set up talks in October between China’s Vice Premier Liu He and administration officials led by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The date for those talks have not been set.
Kudlow added that “We’d love to get back to where we were in May,” before talks suffered a serious breakdown, but signaled that that was not a bottom-line demand. Instead he told Bloomberg TV in a subsequent interview that President Trump “would take a deal so long as it is a good deal.” In May, the U.S. accused China of attempting to walk back various concessions made earlier in the talks, a charge Beijing denied.
“Its always better to talk than to not talk,” Kudlow said.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry announced Wednesday that the next round of trade talks with the U.S. will begin in October. The announcement follows weeks of escalations in rhetoric between both sides, culminating in the U.S. instituting new 15% levies on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods Sunday, prompting China to lodge a complaint with the World Trade Organization. On Oct. 1, existing 25% tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods are set to rise to 30%.
Asked if the White House would consider suspending a tariff increase set to go into effect in October as a gesture of cooperation for the talks that month, Kudlow told Bloomberg it was possible but added that he didn’t want to speculate.
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