PALM BEACH/BEIJING, March 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — U.S. President Donald Trump said that trade talks with China were going very well, but cautioned that he would not accept anything less than a “great deal” after top U.S. and Chinese trade officials wrapped up two days of negotiations in Beijing.
The trade deal is going very well,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
“It is a very comprehensive, very detailed enlisting of problems that we’ve had with China over the years,” Trump said of the talks. “And it’s going to have to be a great deal. If it’s not a great deal, we can’t do it.”
In an earlier statement, the White House said the two sides “continued to make progress during candid and constructive discussions on the negotiations and important next steps,” but did not elaborate on the nature of the progress.
The talks are set to resume next week in Washington with a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer were in the Chinese capital for the first face-to-face meetings between the two sides since Trump delayed a scheduled March 2 increase in tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese goods.
China’s state news agency Xinhua said the two sides discussed “relevant agreement documents” and made new progress in their talks, but did not elaborate in a brief report.
Trump imposed tariffs on US$250 billion of Chinese imports beginning last July in a move to force China to change the way it does business with the rest of the world and to pry open more of its economy to U.S. companies.
Trump’s demands include an end to Beijing practices that Washington says result in systematic theft of U.S. intellectual property and the forced transfer of American technology to Chinese companies.
U.S. companies say they are often pressured into handing over technological know-how to Chinese joint venture partners, local officials or regulators as a condition for doing business in China.
The U.S. government says technology is often subsequently transferred to, and used by, Chinese competitors.
China says its laws enshrine no requirements on technology transfers that are a result of legitimate transactions. — NNN-AGENCIES
