US-China trade war deal ‘90 per cent complete’, US Treasury chief says
- Steven Mnuchin says this week’s meeting of the leaders of the world’s two biggest economies will be ‘very important’
- Chinese president calls a meeting of the Communist Party’s inner circle in preparation for talks with Donald Trump
A trade deal between China and the United States is “90 per cent completed”, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said just three days before a high-stakes meeting between the countries’ two top leaders.
In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, Mnuchin said this week’s Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, where Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump are expected to meet, would be “a very important G20”.
“We were about 90 per cent of the way there [to a trade deal] and I think there’s a path to complete this,” he said, without specifying the remaining 10 per cent.
“The message we want to hear is that they want to come back to the table and continue because I think there is a good outcome for their economy and the US economy to get balanced trade and to continue to build on this relationship.”
The upbeat assessment is the most positive comment from a senior official directly involved in talks to end a costly trade war between the world’s two largest economies since negotiations broke down early last month.
Also on Wednesday, Bloomberg cited sources saying the US was considering suspending its next round of tariffs on another US$300 billion of Chinese goods. Beijing has insisted that it will not agree to any deal under the threat of tariffs.