President Trump on Tuesday said he will send top administration officials to China next week to work on carving out a deal that would resolve long-standing trade disputes.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer are expected to travel to China “in a few days” to talk trade with Beijing, Trump said during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
“I think China is very serious. We’re very serious,” Trump said at the White House.
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“And we have no choice but to be very serious,” he said.
“You know, we’ve put on very substantial tariffs, and that will continue unless we make a trade deal. I think we’ve got a very good chance of making a deal.”
Trump called Chinese President Xi Jinping “a terrific guy and a friend of mine” but said “they trade with us, we can’t trade with them.”
“If you look at what’s happening with trade in China, it hasn’t been fair for many, many years to the United States,” the president said.
“We’re gonna solve that problem.”
National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and Peter Navarro, a trade adviser to the president, also will join the delegation, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Washington and Beijing have traded tariff threats in recent weeks, ramping up tensions between the world’s two largest economies and setting the stage for a trade war.
Meanwhile, there is no shortage of ripening trade issues next week.
The administration is pushing to finish up negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) within the next week or so.
Also, the administration’s temporary exclusion of several countries from steel and aluminum tariffs ends on May 1.
Last month, Trump announced tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports.
The European Union, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Mexico were all granted temporary exclusions that could end next week unless Trump decides to extend the waivers or delay a decision as China moves up the agenda.
Lighthizer met with Mexican Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Tuesday in Washington to continue their monthlong run of NAFTA talks.
“NAFTA, as you know, is moving along,” Trump said Tuesday.
“I can make a deal very quickly, but I’m not sure that that’s in the best interest of the United States. We’ll see what happens. But we’re doing very well,” he said.