National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow on making a trade deal with China.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Monday he is optimistic that trade officials from the U.S. and China could make progress on a deal and that the administration is open to proposals Beijing brings to the negotiating table.
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Kudlow said the U.S. is open to a short-term deal as long as “structural issues,” like market access for U.S. companies and the Chinese government subsidizing state-owned companies, are addressed.
“We are open to a number of ideas, some may be short term, some may be long term,” Kudlow told reporters outside the White House on Monday. “It’s essential that the structural issues that we’ve talked about for two years since I’ve been around … that stuff’s gotta get solved.”
Kudlow added that Chinese negotiators have been a “little more cooperative recently” as they have recently purchased U.S. agricultural products like soybeans, pork and wheat.
China Ministry of Commerce sources said deputy-level talks between Beijing and Washington Monday and high-level talks Thursday are meant to work out any issues for an interim deal. The focus of the trade talks this week will be to get closer to an agreement on achievable items and to try to create a timeline to complete a full deal next year, the sources said.
