President Donald Trump warned Thursday of impending tariff increases should trade meetings with China not result in a deal by March 1.
A Chinese trade delegation has been meeting with U.S. counterparts this week in Washington, D.C. as part of a 90 day tariff truce that began with a meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Argentina G20 on December 1.
“China’s top trade negotiators are in the U.S. meeting with our representatives. Meetings are going well with good intent and spirit on both sides,” Trump tweeted Thursday morning. “China does not want an increase in Tariffs and feels they will do much better if they make a deal. They are correct. I will be……”
President Trump indicated that he must meet again with president Xi “in the near future to discuss and agree on some of the long standing and more difficult points” of making a deal.
He went on,“….China’s representatives and I are trying to do a complete deal, leaving NOTHING unresolved on the table. All of the many problems are being discussed and will be hopefully resolved.” Trump then brought to attention that “Tariffs on China increase to 25% on March 1st, so all working hard to complete by that date!”
President Trump added that while China has agreed to some opening in its markets, he expects more for a trade deal to be done. ”Looking for China to open their Markets not only to Financial Services, which they are now doing, but also to our Manufacturing, Farmers and other U.S. businesses and industries. Without this a deal would be unacceptable!”
In an interview with the Daily Caller published Thursday, the president again pointed to the 25 percent tariff the U.S. has placed on $50 billion in Chinese goods, most of them in high technology, and an additional ten percent in tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods.
“I was going to charge them 25 percent on $200 billion worth of goods and then I’d have $267 billion left over where I’m not charging them anything. At their request, and subject to this deal until March 1st, I’m charging them ten percent on 200 billion,” Trump told the outlet when asked about the importance of China implementing intellectual property protections for U.S. investors in China. Those protections are an element of trade negotiations President Trump has been long adamant must be resolved to solidify a trade deal.
Trump warned that the ten percent tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods will go up to 25 percent after March 1 if a deal is not reached. He called the intellectual property protections “very important” to him.
“You know, billions of dollars are being poured into our treasury. Billions.” Trump told the outlet. “We never had five cents come into our treasury. Now we have billions of dollars.”
Michelle Moons is a White House Correspondent for Breitbart News — follow on Twitter @MichelleDiana and Facebook
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