President Trump on Monday touted “strong” relations with China in the wake of his Group of 20 summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, claiming in a series of tweets that only he and the Chinese leader could reach an agreement on trade and other matters.
“President Xi and I have a very strong and personal relationship,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “He and I are the only two people that can bring about massive and very positive change, on trade and far beyond, between our two great Nations. A solution for North Korea is a great thing for China and ALL!”
The president appeared to revel in the outcome of his meeting with Xi on Saturday, where the two sides agreed to hold off on further tariff increases amid trade negotiations. The pact was seen as a step forward between the world’s top two economies as the two sides had been locked in an escalating trade dispute for months.
{mosads}”My meeting in Argentina with President Xi of China was an extraordinary one. Relations with China have taken a BIG leap forward! Very good things will happen,” the president tweeted Monday morning.
“We are dealing from great strength, but China likewise has much to gain if and when a deal is completed,” he added.
In a subsequent tweet, the president said farmers, in particular, would benefit from an agreement with China. The White House announced on Saturday that China had agreed to start purchasing agricultural products “immediately,” though it did not specify which products or how much.
Trump said late Sunday night that China had agreed to reduce and remove tariffs on cars coming into China from the U.S. He did not say when the change would take place, or what the new level would be.
CNN reported Monday that a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the tweet, and referred questions to “the relevant authorities.” The Chinese Commerce Ministry did not respond to the network’s request for comment.
China earlier this year cuts it tariffs for foreign automobiles to 15 percent, but leveled an additional 25 percent tariff on American cars over the summer in response to duties from the Trump administration, bringing the total to 40 percent.
Trump returned late Saturday from his two-day trip to Argentina, where trade was a focal point of many of his meetings. The president signed the new United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, negotiated as a revised version of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Trump told reporters that he intends to terminate NAFTA, meaning Congress will have to approve the new trade pact or there will be no such deal. Some lawmakers have expressed skepticism about the updated version.
Trump met with Xi on Saturday, the first in-person negotiations between the two leaders since the countries had slapped tens of billions of dollars in retaliatory tariffs on the other’s goods.
“It’s an incredible deal. It goes down, certainly — if it happens, it goes down as one of the largest deals ever made,” Trump told reporters on Saturday.
The president had previously indicated that he was open to a truce on trade with China, but would not rush into one.
The Chinese foreign ministry also touted the agreement, saying the two sides had “proposed a series of constructive plans on how to properly resolve existing differences and problems.”