Divisions within the White House persist despite a publicly united front on the status of trade talks with China.
WASHINGTON — President Trump and his top economic advisers have sent a series of conflicting messages about the status of trade talks with China: A deal is either imminent, still out of reach or somewhere in between.
Or, as Mr. Trump suggested on Thursday, “We are well on our way to doing something special” with China or the United States could decide to “walk from a deal.”
The Trump administration this week halted plans to raise tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports as the two countries try to agree on terms that would end a monthslong trade war between the world’s two largest economies. The move was seen as a good-will gesture by Mr. Trump, who is eager to reach an agreement and has begun talking about a signing meeting with President Xi Jinping of China, perhaps in late March, at the president’s Florida resort.
“I think we’re heading for a historic deal,” Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, said in an interview on CNBC on Thursday. “The outlook for a deal is very positive.”
But other top advisers, including Mr. Trump’s chief negotiator, have played down the prospect for a deal, outlining a tough road ahead as the United States tries to secure lasting promises from the Chinese.
Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, said on CNBC that the United States and China were working off a 150-page document and that he hoped enough progress could be made so that the two presidents could appear at a summit meeting.
“This is a very, very detailed agreement for some very significant commitments,” said Mr. Mnuchin, who was traveling in London. “And these are structural commitments, but we still have more work to do.”
Robert Lighthizer, Mr. Trump’s top trade negotiator, was decidedly more cautious on Wednesday, saying both sides were making “real progress,” but it was still an open question as to whether an enforceable deal could be reached.
“Let me be clear: Much still needs to be done both before an agreement is reached and, more important, after it is reached, if one is reached,” he told House lawmakers during a Ways and Means Committee hearing.
The Trump administration has been trying to put a positive spin on the talks, in part to help mollify jittery investors who have sent financial markets tumbling in response to any signs of negative news on the trade front.
