U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer touted progress on a trade agreement with China but said he thinks the deal’s ultimate success depends on President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Greer was asked how close U.S. officials are to getting the deal “across the finish line.”
“It’s really going to depend on President Trump and President Xi. We’ve had very constructive conversations yesterday and this morning to find a path forward where we can have, you know, more access to [rare earths] from China,” Greer told Fox News’s Shannon Bream.
“We can try to balance out our trade deficit with sales from the United States, and we can have a, what I would say, you know, continued pause on some of the actions we’ve taken against each other,” he continued.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that the U.S. and China have reached a framework for a deal to tentatively stave off 100 percent American tariffs on Chinese good after negotiators settled on a plan for a possible trade agreement.
Trump and Xi are expected to meet in South Korea on Thursday, capping off the U.S. president’s five-day trip to Asia.
Earlier this month, Trump announced he would impose 100 percent tariffs on Chinese goods by Nov. 1 after China announced new export controls on rare earth minerals.
Greer declined to reveal details about the framework of the deal, but he touted progress on averting the rare earth controls.
“I won’t comment too much on the details, but I will say that our goal is to make sure that those controls that are very expansive do not go into effect,” he said. “This is something that wouldn’t affect — that would affect not only the United States. It would also affect the rest of the world. It would gum up trade. It would give China control over technology transactions. It’s completely unacceptable.”
“So that’s one of the major objectives of these talks and I think we’re progressing toward that goal very well,” he added.
