Trump Promises To Fix "Unfair" Trade Deals With China
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BEIJING (CBSMiami) - President Donald Trump, in China as part of his twelve-day tour of Asia, gave the country credit for taking advantage of the U.S. in securing what he called lopsided trade deals.
"Who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for the benefit of its citizens, I give China great credit," he said.
Speaking at a joint appearance with President Xi Jinping in front of business leaders, President Trump promised to fix what he called an unfair trading relationship between the two countries.
Mr. Trump repeatedly spoke of the good chemistry between the U.S. and China. He laid the blame for the trade imbalance on his predecessors.
"It's too bad that past administrations let it get so far out of kilter," he said.
The two presidents announced preliminary agreement on deals that could amount to more than $250 billion flowing across their borders.
The only issue to perhaps dominate this trip even more than trade is North Korea. President Trump said he and his Chinese counterpart see eye to eye on stepping up economic pressure in an effort to curb Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.
"We agreed on the need to implement all UN Security Council resolutions on North Korea and to increase economic sanctions until North Korea abandons its dangerous and reckless path," said Mr. Trump.
Both presidents Trump and Xi also said they spoke about increasing cooperation between their nations' law enforcement, in particular on cybersecurity.
Winding down his visit here in China the president heads next to Vietnam. The Kremlin says he'll probably meet there, at an economic summit, with Vladimir Putin. But Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says that meeting will only take place if there's something for the two men to accomplish.