Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will likely meet this month for a bilateral trade summit at the president's Mar-a-Lago resort club, White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Friday.
Trump chased the good news by asking Xi for a show of good faith.
'I have asked China to immediately remove all Tariffs on our agricultural products (including beef, pork, etc.) based on the fact that we are moving along nicely with Trade discussions,' he tweeted, 'and I did not increase their second traunch of Tariffs to 25% on March 1st. This is very important for our great farmers - and me!'
Kudlow suggested that the two leaders could 'sign and seal' a comprehensive deal that would tilt the balance of economic power toward Washington.
'It's not quite buttoned down yet,' Kudlow said in a Fox Business Network interview, 'but yes, I think you can expect that with President Xi and President Trump at Mar-a-Lago.'
Kudlow was responding to a question about whether rumors of a Trump-Xi signing summit were well-founded.
Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers Larry Kudlow said Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will likely meet this month at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to conclude trade negotiations, and might sign a comprehensive deal at that time
Trump and Xi met at Mar-a-Lago in April 2017, before the U.S. president raised the temperature of his objections to China's long-held advantages in the balance of trade
The former longtime CNBC anchor had dropped a hazier hint on his old network Thursday.
'I believe there will be a meeting in late March down at Mar-a-Lago,' he said then.
Kudlow has expressed cautious optimism about the chances of ironing out a long list of Trump's trade grievances with Beijing.
A White House official said Friday afternoon that in addition to unprecedented levels of farm commodity purchases, Trump's trade team has struck 'bargains in principle' on currency manipulation, forced technology transfers, protectionist subsidies, tariffs and other sticking points.
'The Chinese side has to come back and agree,' Kudlow cautioned Thursday, adding that 'we have to wait for their decision.'
'What we have is vastly greater than just buying some soybeans. Trust me on this,' he boasted on Fox Business. 'It's virtually a revolution in American-Chinese trade. It could be a historical breakthrough.'
The U.S. and China have played a ping-pong match of trade sanctions for the past year, slapping tariffs on each other's goods in a series of displays of global one-upsmanship.
Wave after wave of market tempests have followed, along with contractions in U.S. agriculture exports and instability in the supply chains that make America's manufacturing economy hum.
Trump made the most recent
