US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Washington and Beijing were talking and expressed confidence that a deal on tariffs would be reached soon but declined to say if he had spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping, as a brewing trade war threatens to roil the global economy.
“We are confident that we will work out something with China,” he said during a late afternoon executive order signing in the Oval Office.
“Top officials” in Beijing had reached out to Washington “a number of times” Trump claimed, adding that the two sides have had very good trade talks but that more remained, though he offered no evidence of any progress.
Asked about timing on any agreement, Trump said, “I would think over the next three to four weeks”.
“We have a big beautiful store and everybody wants a piece of that store.”
Trump declined to say whether he would raise further the current tariffs he has imposed on Chinese imports of up to 145 per cent.
“I may not want to go higher, or I may not want to even go up to that level. I may want to go to less, because, you know, you want people to buy.”
