Trump Downplays ‘Interim Deal’ with China: ‘There’s a Deal or There’s Not a Deal’

President Donald Trump downplayed rumors of an “interim deal” with China to make progress in the trade negotiations.

“It’s something that people talk about, I’d like to get the whole deal done,” he said. “I’d rather get the entire Chinese deal done.”

The president spoke to reporters as he left the White House for a trip to Baltimore to address the House Republican party retreat.

Trump said he had seen analysts discussing an interim deal with China, agreeing on easier matters first and separating the harder issues later in the negotiating process.

“There’s no easy or hard,” Trump said. “There’s a deal or there’s not a deal.”

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday morning that China was looking to narrow the scope of trade negotiations to trade matters first and national security issues afterward.

Trump said that he might “consider” the concept of an interim deal, but signaled confidence that the negotiations were moving forward.

He admitted that he did delay some of the proposed economic tariffs in October by a couple of weeks until after China celebrated their 70th anniversary founding of the People’s Republic of China.

“I will do that, again, in honor of President Xi,” he said.