President Donald Trump is set to increase U.S. tariffs to 25 per cent from the current 10 per cent on roughly $200 billion worth of Chinese imported goods if there’s no trade deal in place by one minute passed midnight, March 2.
Although just this week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he would be traveling to Beijing, China, to further trade talks, President Trump has said he will not be speaking to President Xi face-to-face before the March trade deadline.
According to Reuters, President Trump was asked if he plans to meet with President Xi “in the next month or so” to which he replied, “Not yet. Maybe.”
The U.S. president’s statements have some analysts speculating about whether a trade deal will come before the March deadline, and others suggesting people might be reading too much into his comments.
trump saying he is not meeting xi this month is not evidence there will not be some kind of a deal, or extension by march 1. the daily ups and downs are just getting stupid. people, and the markets, just need to chill out for a few weeks over this
— Bill Bishop (@niubi) February 7, 2019
“You have to remember that the U.S. is pushing for substantial structural changes by March 1st, and it may just be that President Trump wants the majority of the details to be worked out prior to him engaging,” says Shaun Haney, on RealAg Radio.
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