President Donald Trump predicted that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping will have “a very good meeting” later this week, focused on farmers and trade deals of the past, and predicted both China and the U.S. will have to make concessions to strike a new deal.
Trump’s comments came aboard Air Force One en route to Malaysia, where he is set to land Sunday morning local time, or late Saturday night Eastern time. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said this week that Trump and Xi are set to meet on Thursday, the final day of his trip.
“We have a lot of things to discuss, including our farmers,” Trump said when asked about what he is expecting from Thursday’s scheduled meeting with Xi and what his message to the Chinese president would be. “I have a lot of things to discuss — the various trade deals that have been made in the past, and some broken, some not broken, but we’ve got many, many things. I think it’s going to turn out to be a very good meeting.”
The reporter followed up, asking Trump if China needs to make concessions to strike a trade deal with America.
“They have to make concessions. I guess we would too. We’re at 157 percent tariff for them. I don’t think that’s sustainable for them, and they want to get that down. And we want certain things from them… I think it’ll be very good,” Trump said.
The 157 percent cumulative tariff is set to take effect on November 1, after Trump announced on October 10 that he would be imposing an additional 100 percent tariff on China in response to China’s announcement that it would hike export controls.
“This affects ALL Countries, without exception, and was obviously a plan devised by them years ago. It is absolutely unheard of in International Trade, and a moral disgrace in dealing with other Nations,” he wrote in a Truth Social post at the time.
When asked what the odds are that the 100 percent tariff on Chinese materials will take effect on November 1, Trump said, “I don’t want to predict odds.”
“I don’t think they would want that. That would not be good for them,” he added.
Trump has a busy week in Asia, with stops in Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea. He is scheduled to meet with the leaders of three countries, as well as the prime ministers of Thailand and Cambodia, in addition to Xi.
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