DAVOS, Switzerland – Carlyle Group founder and billionaire investor David Rubenstein said he’s getting the sense from his contacts in Washington, D.C., that the trade negotiations between the United States and China are likely to end in a matter of months. He said he’s also getting the sense the U.S. government shutdown will probably conclude over the next few days.
“My view on the China negotiations is that it is likely something will come to pass in the next few months. I think both sides recognize it that’s it’s not in either sides interest to have this go on,” Rubenstein said in an exclusive interview with CNBC on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday.
“Nobody thought it would last this long” the private-equity firm executive said when asked about the protracted government shutdown. “Talking to people in Washington, my sense is that both sides are looking for a way to resolve this relatively quickly because it’s beginning to hurt the U.S. economy. Nobody knows exactly how to end it but I do think in the next few days it should be over.”
President Donald Trump last week canceled his delegation’s trip to Davos, citing the shutdown.
Rubenstein’s firm is based out of Washington and he’s had a history of working in politics. In 1975, he served as Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments. During former President Jimmy Carter’s administration, Rubenstein was Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy.
Trade negotiations between representatives of Trump and President Xi Jinping’s administrations have been ongoing for months ever since both countries have started slapping billions of dollars of tariffs on a variety of goods.
The government shutdown is now on its 32nd day, the longest in U.S. history. The debate in Washington has circled around appropriating $5.6 billion in government funds for Trump’s proposed border wall as part of a larger budget. Democrats in Congress, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have stood firm in opposing Trump’s wall.
Meanwhile, the president has proposed temporary protections for about 700,000 young immigrants, in exchange for border wall funding. Both Pelosi and Schumer have already rejected that proposal, with the Senate Minority Leader labeling the offer as “not a compromise but more hostage taking.”
