'The Administration Does Want A Deal': Expert Reacts To Trump Admin's Comments On China Tariffs

Forbes Breaking News

On "Forbes Newsroom," author and U.S.-China relations expert Gordon Chang spoke about the Trump administration discussing a loosening of tariffs imposed on China.

Transcript

00:00Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis, a breaking news reporter here at Forbes. Joining me now

00:07is Gordon Chang, political commentator and author of Plan Red, China's project to destroy

00:12America. Gordon, thank you so much for joining me again today.

00:15Well, thank you, Brittany.

00:17There is some developing news with the ongoing trade war with China, so I want to dive right

00:22into it. On Wednesday morning, the Wall Street Journal reported that the White House was

00:26considering a significant slash in the tariffs against China from 145 percent to between

00:33approximately anywhere from 50 percent to 65 percent. But just this afternoon, White House

00:39Press Secretary Caroline Levitt said this. There will be no unilateral reduction in tariffs

00:43against China. The president has made it clear China needs to make a deal with the United

00:48States of America. To start off the conversation, can you talk exactly where you think we are

00:53right now in the trade war with China? Well, there have certainly been a lot of conversations

00:58both yesterday and today about a trade deal with China. So, for instance, Treasury Secretary

01:04Besant at the Institute of International Finance today talked about a, quote, opportunity for

01:10a big deal. He was referring to a rebalancing of the Chinese economy, which I think is going

01:17to be extremely difficult to accomplish, largely because Xi Jinping doesn't want consumption

01:23to be a major portion of the Chinese economy. He wants it to be manufacturing-based. But nonetheless,

01:29these comments, not only from the Treasury Secretary, but from the president himself, indicate

01:35that the administration does want a deal. And certainly, that has made the markets very happy.

01:40So, the question is, are these conversations, are they real or are they just an attempt to boost equity value?

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