Trump Eyes Tough Trade Talks With China, But Sees Xi as Friend

By Vince Morkri

     BEIJING (MNI) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday reaffirmed his

friendship with Chinese President Xi Jinping but also signaled that his coming

trade talks with China could be contentious unless China agreed to "reciprocal"

trade concessions.

     Trump, speaking a a press conference in Tokyo alongside Japanese Prime

Minister Shinzo Abe during the first leg of his five-nation Asia-Pacific tour,

said in reply to a question on China that the United States would take "very

strong action" that would "happen very soon" against countries that didn't agree

on trade deals with the United States.

     He also said his close relationship with Xi would not get in the way of

striking the best deal for the United States. "My relationship with President Xi

is also excellent. I like him a lot. I consider him a friend," Trump said. "The

problem we have with China is that for decades ... it's been a very unfair trade

situation," he said. 

     "Our trade deficit is massive. It's hundreds of billions of dollars a year"

not including intellectual property, Trump added.

     The United States has long charged that China routinely forces American

companies to transfer intellectual property to joint-venture partners in China

as a condition for doing business in the mainland. In August, Trump ordered U.S.

Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to begin investigating China's trade

practices, with the possibility of using findings from the investigation to

impose trade sanctions on China. 

     On Monday, Trump said trade discussions with China have been ongoing and

were centered on arriving at reciprocal agreements rather than on imposing

tariffs on Chinese goods. "When you tell somebody that you're going to charge

tariffs in order to equalize," some countries "don't like to hear that," Trump

said. "But when you say it's going to be reciprocal -- when you say that we're

going to charge the same as they're charging us" on imports, "it's much more

understandable."

     "We really only have one country that charges us a 100% tax if we sell

things into that country, and yet when they sell the same product into our

country, we charge them nothing," Trump said of China's import restrictions on

some U.S. goods. 

     "Now, I've been against that for a long time. And you will be seeing we do

things about it," he said. "You will be seeing that the United States will take

very, very strong action."

     "Most of the legal foundation has now been done, and you're going to see a

very big difference, and it's going to happen very soon, because the United

States, by many countries, has been treated very, very unfairly when it comes to

trade."

     In Tokyo, Trump is also pushing a bilateral trade treaty that would help

reduce the U.S. trade deficit with Japan. 

     His visit to Beijing starting Wednesday will be high on ceremony, a "state

visit-plus,"  which will include a military honor guard, a formal banquet and

other "special arrangements," according to China's ambassador to the United

States, Cui Tiankai. 

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: vince.morkri@marketnews.com

--MNI BEIJING Bureau; +1 202-371-2121; email: john.carter@mni-news.com

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