Washington: US President Donald Trump and Chinese vice premier Liu He expressed optimism that the two countries would reach a trade agreement and defuse a dispute between the world’s two largest economies, as both sides agreed to continue their negotiations for two more days. “I would say that it’s more likely that a deal will happen,” Trump told the media on Friday at the White House.”The fact that they’re willing to stay for quite a bit longer period, doubling up the time, that means something,” Trump said, adding: “I think there’s a good chance that it happens.”
Speaking through an interpreter, Liu, China’s top trade negotiator, said: “We believe that it is very likely that it will happen. And we hope that ultimately we will have a deal.” Liu has been granted authority to negotiate directly with the US by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Voice of America (VOA) news reported. Liu also brought a letter from Xi where the President thaned Trump for the “lovely video” the Trumps’ grandchildren made for Xi and his wife to mark the Chinese Lunar New Year. US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed that talks have been extended through Sunday.Trump also appeared to ease on his threat to more than double tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods if no deal is achieved by the March 1 deadline which was agreed by the two leaders during a December 1 meeting in Buenos Aires.
“You can tell this to President Xi,” Trump said to Liu. Meanwhile, President Trump has nominated his envoy to Canada Kelly Knight Craft as the next US Ambassador to the United Nations to succeed Indian-American Nikki Haley. The US is calling on China to make structural changes on key issues such as stopping the theft of American technology and reining in improper subsidies and other advantages provided to state-owned companies.
