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US-TRADE-CHINA-TRUMP
Trump says confident in US trade deal with China
WASHINGTON, Jan 5, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – President Donald Trump said Friday he
is confident Washington and Beijing will reach a deal to bring to a close the
months-long trade dispute that has roiled global financial markets.
“I think we will make a deal with China,” Trump said at the White House,
and noted that talks are underway with China “at the highest levels.”
With the Chinese economy slowing, “I really think they want to” reach an
agreement, he told reporters. “I think they sort of have to.”
A US delegation is due to travel to Beijing to hold negotiations Monday,
but Trump said he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping already have been actively
engaged in the talks.
“We have a massive trade negotiation going on with China. President Xi is
very much involved, so am I. We’re dealing at the highest levels and we’re
doing very well,” he said.
Trump and Xi agreed to a three-month cease fire after imposing steep
tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars in two-way trade, which has raised
fears of slowing economic growth and added to investor jitters worldwide.
Trump repeated that the US has “taken in billions and billions of dollars
in tariffs from China and from others,” despite the fact import duties are
increasing costs for American businesses and consumers.
The New York Federal Reserve bank said in an analysis Friday that “higher
import tariffs had immediate impacts on US domestic prices,” raising the
consumer and producer prices by 0.3 percentage points higher than they would
otherwise have been.
Deputy US Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish is due lead the team to
China for the first face-to-face discussions, which will include officials
from the Treasury, Commerce and Agriculture departments as well.
The bruising trade war comes as China grapples with a slowing domestic
economy. Growth is expected by the government to have eased to around 6.5
percent in 2018, down from 6.9 percent in 2017.
The manufacturing sectors in both countries have been hit by the trade
dispute, and Apple shares dropped sharply after reporting steeper-than-
expected “economic deceleration” in the last quarter in China — one of its
largest overseas markets.
Trump said he has urged Apple chief Tim Cook to “make your product in the
United States” rather than China.
BSS/AFP/HR/0945