WASHINGTON — President Trump’s treasury secretary said Sunday the U. S. will not impose $150 billion in threatened tariffs on China while the two countries…
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s treasury secretary said Sunday the U. S. will not impose $150 billion in threatened tariffs on China while the two countries negotiate a deal to reduce America’s trade deficit with its economic rival.
“We’re putting the trade war on hold,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Fox News Sunday . “We have agreed to put the tariffs on hold while we try to execute” an agreement under which China would increase its purchases of U. S. goods.
Mnuchin and other Trump administration officials held talks last week with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, focused on trying to resolve the trade dispute.
The Trump administration had threatened to impose up to $150 billion in tariffs on Chinese products, part of an effort to address the U. S.-China trade imbalance and to penalize China for forcing American companies to turn over technology in exchange for access to the Chinese market. China responded by targeting $50 billion in U. S. products.
But Mnuchin said Sunday that last week’s talks resulted in “very meaningful progress,” including an agreement from Chinese leaders to increase their purchase of American goods. He would not confirm reports that China had offered to increase its purchases by $200 billion.
“We have specific targets, I’m not going to disclose what they are,” Mnuchin told Fox News’ Chris Wallace.
Mnuchin said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will be traveling to China to follow up on “hard commitments” from the Chinese to increase purchases in the U. S. energy and agriculture sectors.
Mnuchin denied that the Chinese concessions were a result of Trump’s promise to help ZTE, a Chinese telecom giant, wiggle out of U. S. sanctions after it was found to be illegally selling equipment to Iran and North Korea.
The U. S. Commerce Department has accused ZTE of violating a March 2017 settlement, in which the firm agreed to pay $1.19 billion for illegally shipping telecommunications equipment to Iran and North Korea.
Last weekend, Trump suggested he wanted the U. S. to go easy on ZTE, tweeting that he was working with Chinese President Xi Jinping “to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast.” In the tweet, Trump said he had instructed the Commerce Department to help ZTE because “too many jobs” were being lost in China.
“We didn’t agree to any quid pro quo,” Mnuchin said. “That was completely independent of our trade negotiations.”
The Treasury chief said all Trump did was ask Ross to look into the ZTE matter, and any changes made to that settlement will about “protecting American technology” and American jobs.
“This is an enforcement issue,” Mnuchin said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
