Trump May Be Willing To Make Concessions In Talks With China

President Trump says he may be willing to extend trade talks with China if there’s real progress, but only for a short time.  It’s a deal leaders of both countries want [both President Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping want—one between the world’s two biggest economies, that would end a punishing trade war that’s taken a big ‘bite’ out of U.S. soybean and pork sales to China. So, Trump said he’s willing to give it more time, if there’s no breakthrough by March 1^st

“The 10% on $200 billion goes up to 25% on March 1^st and so far, I’ve said, ‘don’t do that.’  Now, if we’re close to a deal, where we think we can make a real deal, and it looks like it’s going to get done, I could see myself letting that slide for a little while.  But generally speaking, I’m not inclined to do that.”

American Farm Bureau trade adviser Dave Salmonsen suggests talks this week in Beijing could be a prelude to further negotiations.

“Or, is this a set-up for future talks?  Which isn’t bad; they keep going, these are difficult issues.  If, in the meantime, we can get some more purchases, we can roll back some of the tariffs, we can get to a better, a more normal, what we were used to having, considering a more normal trade environment with China, but still talk about these other issues. That, certainly, was done in December, that definitely could be extended.”

That would, Salmonsen said, give more time to discuss the ‘real deal’ issues of ending alleged Chinese theft of U.S. intellectual property and forced technology transfer from U.S. firms doing business in China.

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