Politics

China is reportedly offering to lower tariffs on US farm, chemical and auto products as trade deal gets closer

Key Points
  • China reportedly is offering to lower tariffs on U.S. farm, chemical, auto and other products as part of a trade deal that is nearing completion.
  • The Wall Street Journal also said that as part of that trade pact that Chinese leader Xi Jinping could sign with President Donald Trump within weeks, the United States is considering eliminating most, if not all, of the trade sanctions imposed on Chinese products last year.
  • Trump said last week, "I'm never afraid to walk from a deal, and I would do that with China, too, if it didn't work out."
Containers sit stacked at Qingdao Port on Nov. 8, 2018 in China's Shandong province.
Visual China Group | Getty Images

China is offering to lower tariffs on U.S. farm, chemical, auto and other products as part of a trade deal that is nearing completion, a new report says.

The Wall Street Journal in that report Sunday also said that as part of that trade pact, the United States is considering eliminating most if not all of the trade sanctions imposed on Chinese products last year.

Bloomberg News reported Friday that the final deal is being prepared and that the pact could be signed by President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping within weeks.

A summit between the two leaders could happen sometime in March, according to both Bloomberg and the Journal.

"Speaking of China we're very well on our way to doing something special. But we'll see," Trump said Thursday.

But Trump, speaking in Hanoi, Vietnam, after ending negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un without reaching an agreement on that communist nation's nuclear program, added, "I am always prepared to walk."

"I'm never afraid to walk from a deal, and I would do that with China, too, if it didn't work out," the president said.

The U.S. has threatened to place tariffs of 25 percent on $200 billion of Chinese imports if no deal is reached.