U.S. President Donald Trump
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he will likely make a deal with China on trade, adding that a lot of progress had been made to resolve the two countries' differences but warning that he still may impose more tariffs on Chinese goods.
"China very much wants to make a deal," Trump told reporters in Washington just hours after his top economic adviser expressed caution about talk of a possible U.S.-China trade agreement.
"We've had a very good discussions with China, we're getting much closer to doing something," Trump said before departing the White House for a campaign event.
"I spoke with President Xi (Jinping) yesterday. They very much want to make a deal," Trump said.
A senior Trump administration official on Friday dismissed as untrue a media report that U.S. President Donald Trump was readying a possible trade deal with China, a CNBC reporter said in a post on Twitter."There is a long way to go," on negotiations, the unnamed official told CNBC's Eamon Javers, according to his tweet.NEW: A senior administration official tells me that the report president Trump is ready to cut a trade deal with China is not true. “There is a long way to go” on negotiations, the official said.— Eamon Javers (@EamonJavers) 2 Kasım 2018 Earlier on Friday, Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Trump wanted to reach an agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping and had asked key U.S. officials to begin drafting potential terms for a deal.Reuters could not immediately confirm either report, and White House officials did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the Bloomberg report.Still, world share markets soared on Friday amid growing hopes that the world's two largest economies are starting to repair their badly damaged trade relations following a conversation held by Trump and Xi on Thursday.The two spoke by telephone in what both sides described as an positive call, their first known direct discussion in several months. Trump, in a tweet after their talk, said he planned for the two leaders to meet at the G20 summit in Argentina later this month.Neither leader gave any details about possible progress.The Bloomberg News report said it was unclear if Trump was easing up on demands that China has resisted, and it cited one person as saying intellectual property theft was a sticking point on a possible deal.Hours after the call, the U.S. Justice Department accused another Chinese company of unfair practices, part of an across-the-board pressure campaign by the Trump administration targeting China.Trump administration officials have said U.S.-China trade talks cannot resume until Beijing outlines specific actions it would take to meet U.S. demands for sweeping changes to policies on technology transfers, industrial subsidies and market access.The two countries have imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of each other's goods and Trump has threatened to extend the tariffs to the remainder of China's $500 billion-plus exports to the United States if the disputes cannot be resolved. Tesla seeks to reduce tariff impact for Model 3 by making cars in ChinaChina promises Pakistan support as Khan tells of 'very difficult' economyChina says Xi-Trump call was quite positive
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"I think we'll make a deal with China, and I think it will be a very fair deal for everybody, but it will be a good deal for the United States."
Trump said he will discuss trade with Xi when the two meet for dinner on the sidelines of the G20 leaders' summit at the end of November in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
His administration has demanded that Beijing make sweeping changes to its policies on intellectual property protections, technology transfers, industrial subsidies and domestic market access, along with steps to reduce a $375 billion U.S. goods trade deficit with China.
Trump said a deal with China would also be good for Beijing.
Russia and Cuba on Friday called on the United States to reconsider its intention to withdraw from a Cold War-era nuclear arms treaty, saying the move would have extremely negative consequences for international security.Washington has said it wants to quit the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces arms treaty and has accused Russia of violating it, something Moscow denies.Russia and Cuba made their call for the United States to think again in a joint statement issued after talks in Moscow between President Vladimir Putin and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel. Republican senators urge Trump to suspend nuclear talks with Saudi ArabiaJapan's nuclear industry growing, but slower than government hopedNATO's Stoltenberg calls on Russia to comply with INF nuclear treaty
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"If we can open up China and make it fair, for the first time ever -- this should have done years ago by other presidents but it wasn't -- I am very much willing to do it. But China very much wants to make a deal," he said.
Trump's comments came a day after a phone call with Xi that he described as "very good.".
The president's remarks helped U.S. stocks to trim their losses on a day that started with market optimism over a Bloomberg report quoting unnamed sources as saying that Trump had ordered his cabinet to draw up terms for a China trade deal.
But by midday, shares had turned negative, weighed down by Apple Inc.'s disappointing earnings forecast and comments from White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow that he was less optimistic than previously about a deal between Washington and Beijing.
In rally after rally, President Donald Trump exhorts throngs of red-hatted supporters to treat next week’s congressional elections as a referendum on Trumpism and the grass-roots movement that swept him to power.“You’re voting for me in 2018,” Trump told a raucous crowd in a late September appearance for Republican candidates in Missouri. “You’re voting for me.”The plea speaks to the challenge facing the president and his supporters: With Democrats threatening to take over the House of Representatives and key governors’ offices, the success of his legislative agenda over the next two years hinges on whether he can energize his backers around candidates who are not named Trump.This year’s election is the first real test of whether the coalition behind Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan can evolve from a diffuse, personality-driven following to an organized political force able to boost candidates outside his electoral strongholds.Reuters surveyed officials from 18 Republican campaigns, analyzed data from polling partner Ipsos and interviewed dozens of candidates, strategists and Trump supporters to assess the reach and influence of the president’s self-styled “MAGA Movement” ahead of the elections.US midterm elections: Trump's agenda at stakeUnited behind Trump’s “America First” agenda of tighter borders, protectionist economic policies and unilateralist diplomacy, the MAGA coalition swept up 2016 voters who felt ignored by Washington and welcomed Trump’s vows to upend its institutions. Today, it attracts Tea Party conservatives, evangelical Christians, gun rights advocates, and working-class voters drawn to Trump’s outsider persona.Trump’s populist base is firmly established in the mostly southern and western parts of the country where he’s most popular. MAGA supporters turn out in force for Trump-backed candidates in those areas, boosting them in opinion polls and volunteering for their campaigns. In some cases, they have taken control of state party machines, harnessing their infrastructure and money for candidates in Trump’s mold.But outside of Trump’s strongholds, the influence of MAGA supporters is more pocketed, especially in Rust Belt states, such as Pennsylvania and Ohio, and the upper Midwest. So, while Trump loyalists can tip the scales in specific U.S. House districts in those areas, they have done less to boost Trump-backed candidates in statewide contests for governor and U.S. Senate.With no central organization and little regard for Republican hierarchies, MAGA enthusiasts agitate largely through social media and Internet forums, such as Facebook and Reddit, the social networking site. In dozens of interviews, Reuters found their willingness to back local campaigns often has less to do with party loyalty than with helping Trump.China says Xi-Trump call was quite positiveTrump announces plans to limit asylum seekers“The 2018 elections will be a test of how popular Trump is, how popular his policies are, did we organize well or do we need to do better and improve things for 2020,” said Scott Presler, a MAGA activist in Virginia Beach, Virginia.Among the 18 Trump-endorsed Republicans running for Senate or governor in states where Trump won the presidential race by more than 10 percentage points in 2016, more than 80 percent are ahead in opinion polls, based on data aggregated by RealClearPolitics and 538.com, non-partisan websites that gather polling from multiple sources.Yet among the 16 Trump-backed candidates for Senate or governor in states where he won by fewer than 10 points, just four – a quarter – are polling ahead.'Leaning on their shovels'The challenge is starkest where Trump-backed candidates are trying to flip governors’ offices and Senate seats held by Democrats, Reuters found.In states where Trump won by double digits in 2016, two of the five candidates he has endorsed in races for Democrat-held Senate and governors’ seats are leading in the polls, and two others are within a few points. But in states where Trump won by less than 10 points, all six candidates he has endorsed in races for Democratic seats are behind in recent polls, five of them by at least 10 points.Through much of the campaign season, Trump supporters in many places were “leaning on their shovels,” because they were over-confident of victory, Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser and campaign strategist, told Reuters.MAGA loyalists have grown more energized in recent weeks, realizing Trump’s agenda “would come grinding to a halt” if Democrats capture the U.S. House, Bannon added. “You've seen the establishment and the hardcore anti-establishment in the Trump base all come together.”The president remains enormously popular with that base - Reuters/Ipsos polling gives him an 84 percent approval rate among Republicans - and more than two-thirds of those who voted for him in 2016 say they identify with MAGA ideals.Yet their views diverge on what MAGA means: while more than half equate it with strengthening the economy and tightening borders, upwards of a quarter say MAGA simply means “Donald Trump.” (Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2RuhKTv)That raises questions about the future of MAGA once Trump leaves office.A test in TennesseeOn Oct. 1, Trump whipped up a crowd of nearly 10,000 at a rally supporting Marsha Blackburn’s U.S. Senate campaign in Tennessee, where Trump won in 2016 by 26 points.“A vote for Marsha is really a vote for me and everything that we stand for,” he told the audience.Soon after, opinion polls showed Blackburn, a U.S. House member, pulling ahead of her Democratic opponent, former two-term governor Phil Bredesen.“We knew President Trump would be an extraordinary surrogate in East Tennessee," Republican Party spokesman Garren Shipley told Reuters. Bredesen’s campaign dismissed the polls: “The only poll that matters is on election day,” said spokeswoman Alyssa Hansen.On Oct. 10, the president held another rally 500 miles (800 km) away with a similar message for Lou Barletta’s U.S. Senate campaign in Pennsylvania, where Trump eked out a one-point victory in 2016. “I need you,” Trump told the crowd. “Vote for Lou!”It was Trump’s second rally with Barletta since August. But Barletta, also a U.S. House member, trails incumbent Democratic Senator Bob Casey, and has remained behind by more than 10 points in polls.The divergent fortunes of Blackburn and Barletta reflect the challenge in harnessing Trump’s MAGA coalition.Following Trump’s victory in 2016, Tennessee’s Republican establishment embraced his agenda and welcomed his supporters. Many are volunteering now for Blackburn and other Trump-backed candidates, helping with phone banks, neighborhood canvassing and other get-out-the-vote efforts.The state party leaders who didn’t support Trump initially have “figured out they have to help him,” says Todd Fowler, who heads the local party in Johnson City, Tennessee, and serves on the state party’s executive committee. “Tennessee likes what he’s doing.”In Pennsylvania, where Trump’s 2016 win was razor-thin, his support is mostly concentrated in rural and working-class areas. Polls show Trump’s pick for governor, Scott Wagner, running well behind incumbent Democratic Governor Tom Wolf.Trump is drawing people to congressional campaigns in Pennsylvania, but they are coming “very tentatively,” says Eugene Sorrentino, 76, a retired power company technician and member of the local Republican committee in Erie, Pennsylvania.Sorrentino recently staffed a welcome tent set up by the party at a county fair and “all I heard was requests for Trump paraphernalia,” he said. The congressional races “weren’t on their agenda,” he added.'Trump Bump'In Trump’s strongholds, his ability to help candidates goes beyond a bounce in the polls. Nearly all the Trump-backed campaigns contacted by Reuters reported a surge of volunteer activism – a “Trump bump” – after the president’s endorsement.In Western Pennsylvania, a corner where Trump is enormously popular, U.S. Representative Mike Kelly says his campaign relies heavily on MAGA volunteers. Kelly’s district, redrawn this year, includes counties where Trump won by as much as 20 points in 2016, according to PlanScore.org, a nonpartisan group.Trump provides “that shot of adrenaline you need from time to time,” Kelly told Reuters as he prepared to join the president for an Oct. 10 rally in Erie.One engine for turning out Trump’s base in his stronghold regions is America First Action, a “Super PAC” allowed to spend unlimited amounts of money on elections.The group has spent more than $26 million on phone messaging and advertising in five battleground Senate races – Arizona, Montana, Indiana, Missouri and North Dakota – and across 11 congressional districts in Texas, Minnesota, Maine, Michigan, West Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania, Nevada and North Carolina.It is run by Trump loyalists and relies on big donations from Republican Party stalwarts, including casino magnates Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn and mining engineer and businessman Robert Murray.In an Oct. 1 memo, White House political director Bill Stepian advised congressional campaigns that the best way to capture MAGA support is to align “closely, clearly and boldly” with Trump. The president, he wrote, is “ready, willing and able to put the power and force of his coalition to work for the candidates with whom he stands, and who stand with him.”At the national level, Republican Party officials have fallen in line and embraced the president, routinely echoing Trump’s nationalist campaign themes. But for candidates in areas where the president doesn't dominate the electorate, embracing Trump has mixed success.In Florida, where Trump prevailed by one point in 2016, he endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidate and die-hard supporter Ron DeSantis before the party primary. But now, in a state that hasn’t elected a Democratic governor in 20 years, DeSantis is polling slightly behind in the general election contest against Andrew Gillum, the Democratic mayor of Tallahassee.Some Republican candidates in areas with moderate voters who view Trump less favorably have steered clear of the president, a Reuters analysis found last month.Party TakeoverMAGA supporters have become a force in many state party offices, including some states outside the president’s established southern and western strongholds.In Ohio, a swing state where Trump won by eight points in 2016, the state Republican Party selected Jane Timken, a Trump friend and loyalist, to take over as chairwoman in the wake of the election.In Nevada, where Democrat Hillary Clinton won the 2016 presidential vote, the state Republican Party has launched weekly events, such as MAGA Mondays and Trump Tuesdays, to attract the president’s supporters.Rochelle Swanson, 30, a MAGA activist in Reno who began posting pro-Trump articles and interviewing local Republican candidates on social media, was asked by a party official in July to help with voter outreach. She now aligns her social media and canvassing with the party’s messaging, she says, and “there is good unity happening.”Yet even as MAGA supporters have become woven into the fabric of the Republican Party, many acknowledge it will be a challenge to preserve their coalition and continue shaping U.S. politics once Trump leaves office. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll earlier this month, more than a quarter of Trump voters said they did not know who would carry Trump’s vision if he leaves politics.“I don’t think anybody could take Trump’s spot,” said Jimmy Messina, a MAGA activist in upstate New York who runs a political advertising media company. “I don’t see it.”
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Kudlow, speaking on CNBC, contradicted the Bloomberg report and added: "There's no mass movement, there's no huge thing. We're not on the cusp of a deal."
One of China's vice commerce ministers Wang Bingnan said on Saturday the country is willing to resolve trade issues with the United States through mutually respectful talks and on an equal footing, similar to past comments from Beijing.
Trump administration officials have said U.S.-China trade talks cannot resume until Beijing outlines specific actions it would take to meet U.S. demands for sweeping changes to policies on technology transfers, industrial subsidies and market access.
Trump said that if a deal is not made with China, he could impose tariffs on another $267 billion in Chinese imports into the United States, adding that China's economy had "been hit very hard" by previous U.S. tariffs.
The United States has imposed tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods so far, while China has retaliated with $110 billion worth of tariffs on U.S. goods.
The Trump administration also has taken action to hit the Chinese semiconductor industry, indicting two companies accused of stealing trade secrets and banning U.S. software and equipment exports to one of them.