Trump:

Trade Deal with China 'Very, Very Close'

TEHRAN (defapress)- President Donald Trump said Monday the US and China are "very, very close" to reaching an agreement on a trade deal one day after he announced he would delay additional tariffs on Beijing.

News ID: 75859

Date: 26 February 2019 - 15:16

Speaking to a group of governors at the White House, Trump stated that Chinese representatives would likely be coming back "quickly" for more negotiations, The Hill reported.

"I told you how well we did with our trade talks in China, and it looks like they’ll be coming back quickly again," Trump stressed, adding, "And we’re going to have another summit. We're going to have a signing summit, which is even better."

"So hopefully we can get that completed, but we’re getting very, very close," he noted.

Trump tweeted Sunday evening that the two countries had made "substantial progress" in trade talks. As a result, he said, the US would delay a tariff hike that was set to go into effect on Friday.

"Assuming both sides make additional progress, we will be planning a Summit for President Xi and myself, at Mar-a-Lago, to conclude an agreement," Trump added.

While top officials from both countries have met multiple times over the last few weeks, Trump has long indicated that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping would need to sign off on any final agreement.

The US and China have been engaged in a tit-for-tat trade dispute over the past several months, with each side levying billions of dollars in tariffs on the other.

Trump and Xi agreed during the Group of 20 summit late last year to a truce that would prevent tariffs on Chinese goods from increasing from 10 percent to 25 percent until March 1, giving the two sides room for negotiations.

The president had signaled in recent weeks that the March 1 date could be flexible, telling reporters at various times that it was not a "magical date", and that moving it would "not be inappropriate".

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