Trump: China wants a deal ‘very badly’
Donald Trump helped stocks rebound today as investors bought into renewed hope of a trade truce between the US and China.
At the end of a characteristically unpredictable weekend of mixed messages from the US President, Trump said that he believed China wanted to reach an agreement to end the standoff. Markets were rattled earlier this month as Trump’s trade war intensified.
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However, equities recovered today as US and European markets climbed into the green.
Trump spoke positively about trade negotiations during the G7 leaders’ summit in France, where world leaders met to discuss issues ranging from fires in the Amazon rainforest to potential taxes on tech giants.
Trump claimed Beijing was actively reaching out to resume trade negotiations and looking to “make a deal” to end the stalemate.
“I think they want to make a deal very badly. I think that was elevated last night. The vice chairman of China came out, he said he wants to see a deal made,” Trump said.
“The longer they wait the harder it is to put back, if it can be put back at all… I don’t think they have a choice.”
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Trump also praised Chinese President Xi Jinping, calling him a “great leader” and a “brilliant man” – despite labelling him an “enemy” on Twitter last week.
Chinese vice premier Liu said today that China wanted to reach a solution to the trade war via “calm” negotiations.
Talk of a solution to the long-running trade conflict boosted Wall Street. The tech-heavy Nasdaq had risen 1.2 per cent by 5.30pm UK time, while the S&P 500 had climbed one per cent and the Dow Jones industrial average was 1.1 per cent higher. The dollar had risen 0.3 per cent against the euro to €0.889.
The positive rhetoric soothed investors’ nerves after a bruising day of falls at the end of last week, when Trump announced he would ramp up tariffs on almost all Chinese goods in the latest retaliation between the two sides.
Meanwhile, at a press conference today Trump also said he was open to meeting Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani under the right circumstances, adding that he had “good feelings” about the prospect of a new nuclear deal following a tense standoff between Tehran and Washington in recent months.