United States President Donald Trump said that he could see himself dealing with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, directly to work out the details of the trade deal between the US and China. He made the remarks during his interview with Fox News aboard Air Force One aircraft on his way to Saudi Arabia on Monday.
"Yeah, I can see that. I mean, I'm not sure that it'll be necessary, but that happened with the UK," he told Fox News' Sean Hannity.
He said that after confirming that the US has “confines of a very, very strong deal" with China during the interview.
Talking about the most exciting part about the trade deal with China, Trump said, “One of the things that I think could be most exciting for us and China is that we're trying to open up China. Because you know, many years ago we opened up the USA, now it is time for China to open up, and that’s part of our deal.”
Trump’s statements come after the trade war between China and the US cooled off after a series of tit-for-tat tariffs both the countries levied on each other. On Monday, both the countries agreed to drastically slash the tariffs against each other for 90 days.
{{/usCountry}}Trump’s statements come after the trade war between China and the US cooled off after a series of tit-for-tat tariffs both the countries levied on each other. On Monday, both the countries agreed to drastically slash the tariffs against each other for 90 days.
{{/usCountry}}The US and China agreed to reduce tariffs on each other from a whopping 145% and 125% to 30% and 10% respectively. The world’s two most powerful economies seek to come to a more detailed trade agreement during the relief period of 90 days.
‘Got involved with India-Pakistan’
During the interview, Trump also touched upon the ceasefire understanding between India and Pakistan after four days of military conflict and reiterated the US’ role in reaching that agreement.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a period like this with a potential nuclear war. The two countries (India and Pakistan) have very good leaders, people I know very well. It was a very important process, we got involved with India and Pakistan,” he said.
“I didn’t like what was happening, and they are two very strong nuclear countries…and if that ever started, boy, that could be the beginning of something really bad. Even a minimal you could have millions of people killed…I thought it was something we could get involved in. I did a good job, Marco did a good job, and JD did a good job,” he added.
India and Pakistan reached a ceasefire understanding on May 10. However, New Delhi has said that it was Pakistan DGMO who reached out to his Indian counterpart and sought the halt in escalating military tensions, rejecting the claims by the US that it brokered the peace between the two countries.