President Donald Trump said Wednesday that China “just informed” the White House that its vice premier will lead a delegation “coming to the U.S. to make a deal” on trade.
Dow futures cut losses but major indexes still opened lower following the president’s tweet, which added that “we’ll see” what comes of the negotiations because “I am very happy with over $100 billion a year in Tariffs filling U.S. coffers,” Trump said.
The president’s declaration followed a tweet a few minutes earlier, which proclaimed why Trump believes China backed away from the negotiating table. He said China’s “attempted renegotiation” is on the “sincere” hope that, if a Democrat is elected president in the 2020 election, the Chinese will “continue to ripoff the United States … for years to come.”
Trump’s tweet said Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will be a part of the delegation coming to Washington. There was speculation that, if China sent a delegation at all, the group would consist of low-ranking officials.
U.S. stock markets dropped this week after Trump on Sunday shattered hope that the U.S. was nearing a trade deal with China. The president threatened to impose 25% tariffs on an additional $325 billion of Chinese goods this Friday. Robert Lighthizer, the top U.S. official on trade, confirmed on Monday the increase will come if an agreement is not made before Friday.
