President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday he was “close” to doing something on trade with China, CNBC reported.
He made the remarks as he prepared to depart for the G-20 summit meeting of world leaders in Argentina.
“I think we’re very close to doing something with China but I don’t know that I want to do it,” Trump told reporters. “Because what we have right now is billions and billions of dollars coming into the United States in the form of tariffs or taxes, so I really don’t know.”
Trump is supposed to meet with China’s president, Xi Jinping, while the two attend the summit. Trade and tariffs have been topics of increasing tension between the two countries since Trump started ratcheting up the heat earlier this year in a series of escalating tariffs on Chinese imports. China has retaliated with tariffs of its own on US imports.
“I will tell you that I think China wants to make a deal, I’m hoping to make it a deal but, frankly, I like the deal we have right now.”
Overshadowing Trump’s comments was a report that White House economic advisor and China trade hawk Peter Navarro would be attending the Trump-Xi dinner. The report sent the Dow briefly to its low of the day.