U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could reach a new trade deal between the world’s two largest economies when they meet in Argentina this weekend, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Tuesday.
“The president said there is a good possibility that we can make a deal and he is open to it,” he said of Trump. But he cautioned that obstacles remain.
Kudlow said the two leaders must resolve the issues of “fairness and reciprocity” at the center of the dispute.
“China should change its practices and come into the community of responsible trading nations,” he said. “Their responses have disappointed because … we can’t find much change in their approach.”
The U.S. and China over several months have imposed tit-for-tat tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of imports arriving from each other’s shores.
On Monday, Trump voiced doubts that a deal would be reached when he meets with Xi Saturday night in Buenos Aires on the sidelines of the G-20 summit of the world’s largest economies.
Trump has threatened to impose more tariffs on Chinese exports if the two sides cannot reach what he considers fairer trading between the two countries.
Kudlow said “certain conditions have to be met. … Intellectual property theft must be solved. Forced technology transfers must be solved.”
He said Trump is “not going away” if no deal is reached.
“I hope they understand that,” he added.
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