(Newsmax) White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow says a trade deal with China is close, but warned that President Donald Trump is prepared to ”walk away” if some conditions aren’t met.
The veteran financial guru and former Ronald Reagan adviser said the U.S. and China are close to a trade deal, “probably even closer than in mid-November.”
However, he added, the president isn't yet ready to sign just any deal with China.
“The president has said many times if the deal is no good, if the assurances with respects to preventing future thefts, if the enforcement procedure is no good he has said we will not go for it. We will walk away,” Kudlow said on CNBC.
“The president has said that if we can not get the enforcement and the assurances, then we will not go forward,” said Kudlow, the head of the National Economic Council that advises Trump.
The Dec. 15 deadline is still in place for a new round of U.S. tariffs set to kick in on Chinese goods, but Trump likes where trade talks with China are going, said Kudlow, who worked as Reagan’s budget deputy between 1981 and 1985.
“There’s no arbitrary deadline here ... but that fact remains December 15 is a very important date with respect to a no-go or go on tariffs,” he told CNBC. “It’s going to be totally up to POTUS. But December 15th is an important date.”
Completion of a phase one deal between the world’s two biggest economies had been initially expected in November, ahead of a new round of U.S. tariffs set to kick in on Dec. 15, covering about $156 billion of Chinese imports.
“The reality is constructive talks, almost daily talks, we are, in fact, close,” Kudlow said.
Kudlow characterized the recent talks between the world’s two largest economies as “intense.”
“I say intense because this is a very important matter,” Kudlow said. “There’s so much at stakes here when you go through the various categories... We can’t afford, we must not permit any country, China or whoever, to willy nilly steal our breakthroughs in technology and advanced micro-processing related to 5G.”
He said later on Bloomberg Television that Trump basically likes what he sees in the current talks.
Kudlow also told Bloomberg Television that the U.S. and China are trying to agree on the amount of American agriculture products that Beijing is willing to purchase.
In recent days, American and Chinese negotiators have signaled that they may be drawing closer to signing phase one. Trump diminished expectations for it to happen soon when he said earlier this week that he wouldn’t mind if it takes until after the 2020 U.S. election to get a deal.
Meanwhile, China is in the process of waiving retaliatory tariffs on imports of U.S. pork and soy by domestic companies, a procedural step that may also signal a broader trade agreement with the U.S. is drawing closer.
