Trump says US and China nearing a ‘good deal’, links agreement to Xi meeting

Trump also again threatens ‘substantial’ tariffs on India, citing its purchases of Russian oil

US President Donald Trump, hailing his “good relationship” with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, said on Tuesday that a deal with China was taking shape, a week after officials from both countries concluded talks on tariffs in Sweden.

“It’s not imperative, but I think we’re going to make a good deal … I won’t meet with China if we don’t make a deal. We are getting along with China very well … I have a very good relationship with President Xi,” Trump told CNBC.

He also said in the interview that China was very reliant on the US and that he did not ask for a meeting with Xi.

“They had a thing that Donald Trump really wanted to go there. No, it’s a 18-hour flight. It’s a long flight,” he said, referring to the travel time from Washington to Beijing.

“I’ll end up having a meeting before the end of the year, most likely, if we make a deal,” he added.

“At some point in the not too distant future, I will.”

Upon the conclusion of the Stockholm meeting, Chinese officials said that both sides agreed to extend the pause on new tariff hikes, which is set to end on August 12. A week later, however, the Trump administration has yet to formally confirm the extension.

In a telephone call in June, Trump and Xi exchanged invitations to visit each other’s country, a conversation that paved the way for subsequent negotiations to resolve trade and other disputes.

Following the call, China eased export restrictions on rare earth magnets and the US resumed export of high-tech products, including Nvidia AI chips.

In the CNBC interview Trump also renewed threats of “substantial” tariffs on India soon for its purchases of Russian oil, calling New Delhi “not a good trading partner”.

“Because they do a lot of business with us, but we don’t do business with them. So we settled on 25 per cent [tariffs], but I think I’m going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they’re buying Russian oil,” he warned.

Trade talks between the US and India are stuck and have so far failed to yield a deal.

Unhandled type: inline-plus-widget {“type”:”inline-plus-widget”}

Citing two sources, the South China Morning Post reported last week that, other than ties with Russia, a major stumbling block remained India’s reluctance to opening farm and dairy markets to the US.

Trump said last week that he would impose 25 per cent tariffs on Indian imports.

However, Indian negotiators have changed plans and will not be coming to Washington in mid-August as a follow-up to their previous meeting about two weeks ago, according to one person familiar with the issue.