Trump: China wants to make trade deal ‘very badly’
NEW YORK: US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that a deal to end a nearly 15-month trade war with China could happen sooner than people think and that the Chinese were making big agricultural purchases from the US.
"They want to make a deal very badly... It could happen sooner than you think," Mr Trump told reporters.
He said later, after signing a limited trade deal with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, that there was a good chance of reaching an agreement with China.
He said Beijing was trying to be nice to him and added: "I was nice to them."
"We are having some very good conversations," he told a later news conference.
"You know why they want to make a deal? Because they are losing jobs, because their supply chain is going to hell and companies are moving out of China and they are moving to lots of other places, including the US."
In the meantime, the US was taking in "billions and billions of dollars in tariffs".
"China is starting to buy our agricultural products again," Mr Trump added.
"They are starting to go with the beef and all of the different things, pork, very big on pork. You know they want to make a deal and they should want to make a deal. The question is: Do we want to make a deal?"
Mr Trump spoke a day after delivering a stinging rebuke to China's trade practices at the UN General Assembly, saying he would not accept a "bad deal" in US-China trade negotiations.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said there was communication between the two sides and the Chinese will be in the US for talks next month.
"At this stage, what you want to do is have confidence building and show goodwill, and I think... we are doing that,"he told reporters. "The President wants a deal if he can get a good deal. If he doesn't ... we have a tariff policy in place."
China's top diplomat hit back at US criticism of its trade and development model in a speech on Tuesday after Mr Trump spoke at the UN.
Mr Wang Yi, China's Foreign Minister and state councillor, said Beijing would not bow to threats, though he said he hoped the trade talks next month would produce positive results. - REUTERS
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