Trump won't trade US jobs for China's help on North Korea, says official

President Donald Trump does not intend to trade away American jobs for China’s help on North Korea, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Monday, adding that there were “constructive” talks with Beijing underway on trade issues.

Ross rowed back during an interview with CNBC from Trump’s comments on Saturday that China’s help on North Korea “trumps trade”.

Asked if the need for China’s help to contain threats from North Korea had made it more difficult to be tough with Beijing on trade issues, Ross said he did not think so.

“We’ve been having some very constructive discussions on trade with the Chinese in parallel” to discussions on North Korea, Ross said.

“I think what the president was trying to say is that we’re trying to have an overall constructive relationship with China on a variety of topics, the most pressing of which, because it directly involves human lives, is the North Korea situation. I don’t think he meant to indicate at all that he intends to trade away American jobs just for help on North Korea,” Ross said.

Ross also reaffirmed that the administration intended to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, not withdraw from it.