Trump says US 'not ready' for trade deal with China
US President Donald Trump has said Washington is “not ready” to finalize a trade deal with Beijing, also signaling that he might cancel the new round of bilateral talks scheduled for next month.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, Trump said the United States and China were still pursuing a trade agreement but he was not ready to make a deal.
"We're doing very well with China. We're talking with China. We're not ready to make a deal - but we'll see what happens," Trump said.
"China wants to do something, but I'm not ready to do anything yet. Twenty-five years of abuse - I'm not ready so fast, so we'll see how that works out." the US president added. "We'll see whether or not we keep our meeting in September.”
US and Chinese negotiators met in Shanghai last month for the first time since bilateral talks on trade collapsed in May, and were due to hold another round next month.
Trump initiated what is effectively a trade war with China last year, when he first imposed unusually heavy tariffs on imports from the country. Since then, the two sides have exchanged tariffs on more than 360 billion dollars in two-way trade.
Beijing and Washington have held several rounds of talks to settle the issue, but to no avail so far.
Beijing, accusing Washington of practicing “naked economic terrorism” against the country, has opposed the US tariff hikes, saying they are harmful not only to China and the US, but to the whole world.
Washington, for its part, says a primary goal of the aggressive tariff strategy is to decrease the trade imbalance with China, which totaled 379 billion dollars in 2018.
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