President Donald Trump tweeted Friday that he had "a very good talk" with President Xi Jinping of China on trade and that Beijing "has already started large scale purchases of agricultural products and more."
"Formal signing being arranged," Trump said in the post, in which he noted further that "progress" was being made because he and the Chinese leader "also talked about North Korea, where we are working with China and Hong Kong."
President Trump announced last week that the U.S. had canceled plans to impose new tariffs on $160 billion in Chinese imports in exchange for Beijing spending $50 billion in farm purchases.
Under the "phase one" deal, the administration also would cut existing import taxes on about $112 billion in Chinese goods, from 15% to 7.5%.
The deal was widely bashed by Democrats, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., saying that Trump "sold out" the nation for "a temporary and unreliable promise from China to purchase some soybeans."
In addition, Beijing is under increasing pressure from other global leaders to take a stronger role in defusing the nuclear standoff with North Korea to stabilize peace in the region.
U.S.-led nuclear negotiations with North Korea have faltered over disagreements in exchanging sanctions relief and disarmament.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.