Trump and his administration reached a phase-one deal in principle with China, said three sources to CNBC.
On Thursday afternoon, the President met with its top advisors. They talked about the tariff deadline on Chinese goods.
The Trump administration is offering to eliminate tariffs that are going to take effect on Sunday. Also, they suggest cutting some existing taxes in half, claims the CNBC.
Some sources say that the phase-one deal agreement is going to conclude between Trump’s administration and China. It is pending for approval from the United States President Donald Trump.
Trump met with the top advisors on Thursday. They’ve talked about dallying the next round of U.S. tariffs. On Sunday, the duties of 15% were going to take effect. It would impact about $160 billion Chinese-made goods, including computers, clothing, phones, and toys.
The White House is offering to slash some existing tariffs in half and scrap those duties. The U.S. proposal is to cut existing taxes on $360 billion Chinese products by half.
One of the sources told CNBC that Trump’s attention is on the U.S. agricultural products China will purchase. While the United States President Donald Trump wanted China to buy $50 billion worth of goods from the U.S. In the end, China agreed to buy $40 billion in agricultural products.
The two largest economies of the world moved to rein in a trade war that is threating to drag global growth. It is not clear how the agreement between Beijing and Washington differs from a partial deal the president announced in October.
The major stock indexes from the U.S. jumped after the news of the deal in principle. Investors hope China and the United States can reach an agreement before the tariff deadline. They want to avoid escalation of the nearly 2-year-old trade war.
Phase-One Deal Reached In Principle
China and the U.S. reached a phase-one deal in principle, first reported Bloomberg on Thursday.
About an agreement with China, Trump signaled optimism on Thursday morning. The President tweeted that the United States is close to a trade deal with Beijing after several near misses and false starts.
The President wrote that they are very close to a big deal with the Chinese side.
The President also huddled with significant business figures on Thursday, aside from his advisors. Trump met with Cummins CEO Tom Linebarger, Decker CEO James Loree, Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz, Stanley Black, and Business Roundtable CEO Joshua Bolten. It is not a fact that the meeting was about the China trade discussion.
The White House’s tariff offer to Beijing was decided last week, but that might change. As Robert Lighthizer, U.S. Trade Representative tries to push the NAFTA administration replacement through Congress, and recent talks have taken place at the deputy level.
Trump’s announcement that the United States wanted a deal marked a shift in tone during the recent weeks. He was repeatedly sharing that Beijing wanted an agreement more than the U.S. He suggested that he was ready to wait until after the 2020 elections, which will take place in November. Many investors were disappointed because of this statement.