Trump: ‘I think we’ll make a deal with China’
President Donald Trump looked to quell market jitters over escalating tariff war tensions with Beijing last night, after telling reporters that a trade deal between the US and China is getting nearer.
“China very much wants to make a deal…We’ve had very good discussions with China, we’re getting much closer to doing something,” Trump said.
Before leaving the White House for a campaign event, US President added: “I think we’ll make a deal with China, and I think it will be a very fair deal for everybody, but it will be a good deal for the United States.”
However, the remarks come just hours after Trump’s senior economic adviser Larry Kudlow said that the US was “not on the cusp of a deal”.
The comments follow on from months of tit-for-tat actions taken both by Washington and Beijing, which has amounted to billions of pounds' worth of tariffs being imposed on exported goods.
Trump, who made the reformation of America’s trade relationship with China a flagship pledge during his campaign to be President, has also promised to clamp down on Chinese tech firms that he claims are infringing on US intellectual property rights.
Confidence in markets across the world has been shaken by the brewing trade dispute, with a swathe of international companies, including Jaguar Land Rover, warning that profits will be dented by the imposition of tariffs.