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I like the idea of waiting until after election for China trade deal: Trump

WION Web Team
LondonUpdated: Dec 03, 2019, 05:14 PM IST
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File photos of US President Donald Trump (L) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (R). Photograph:(Reuters)

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US and China have been locked in a trade war for the past 18 months with China recently demanding that US tariffs be rolled back as part of phase one of the trade deal.

US President Donald Trump who arrived in London to attend the NATO summit said he has "no deadline" for a trade deal with China while adding that he "could wait until after the election for the China deal".

"I have no deadline," Trump told reporters in London. "In some ways, I like the idea of waiting until after the election for the China deal."

The US president, however, was quick to add a deal would "surprise" everyone, asserting, "I don't know if I want to make it but you're going to find out pretty soon, it's going to surprise everybody."

"I'm doing very well in a deal with China, if I want to make it," Trump said at a press conference ahead of the NATO summit.

"I don't think it's 'if they want to make it', it's 'if I want to make it'. And we'll see what happens."

US and China have been locked in a trade war for the past 18 months with China recently demanding that US tariffs be rolled back as part of phase one of the trade deal.

Last week, President Trump had said the US was in the "final throes" of a deal aimed at defusing the trade war with China, however, the US president added that failure to get the trade deal will prompt more tariffs even as analysts fear it would result in lower sales in the Christmas season ahead.

Trump had earlier warned about 15 per cent additional tariffs on $156 billion worth of Chinese-made consumer goods scheduled to take effect on December 15. Trump had earlier agreed in October to skip raising those tariffs to 30 per cent from the 25 per cent rate.

A 15 per cent tariff on about $125 billion of goods had gone into effect on September 1, including flat-panel television sets, flash memory devices, smart speakers, Bluetooth headphones, bed linens, multifunction printers among other products.