President Donald Trump said he hopes that the weekend there will be substantive negotiations between the United States and China on commerce and assured that tariffs could not be higher than 145 percent.
“You can’t get higher. It is in 145, so we know it will go down,” Trump said. “I think it’s a very friendly meeting. They want to do it elegantly.”
The secretary of the US Treasury, Scott Besent, and the Chief Commercial Negotiator, Jamieson Greer, will meet in Switzerland over the weekend with the main economic negotiator of China, He Lifeng, to maintain conversations that could be the first step towards resolving a commercial war that has disturbed the world economy.
Trump said he believes that China really wants to reach an agreement, and added that he would like the Asian giant to open his economy.
-“I think we are going to have a good weekend with China. I think they have a lot to win. I think they have much more than win than us, in a sense,” Trump said.
When asked if he would talk to Chinese president, Xi Jinping, after the conversations, Trump said he could do it. “Yes, of course,” he said.
Trump said China has a “tremendous commercial surplus” with the United States and that is unacceptable. “I would like to see China open up,” he said.
Trump was optimistic for the weekend conversations. “I think it will be substantial (…) China wants to do something, and (…) you have to do it at this time.”
