CHINA/TARIFFS/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump said Thursday [1-31-19] talks with China aimed at defusing a bilateral trade war were making good progress, but top aides directly involved in the negotiations stressed there are many difficult issues that need to be worked out. However, a White House statement issued hours later stressed there are still big differences between the two sides. It also reiterated that a March 1 deadline set two months ago in Buenos Aires to reach an agreement still ‘represents a hard deadline.’ Trump repeated today that if talks fail, he will raises tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent, the White House said. The statement came at the end of two days of talks with a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He, who is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s top economic adviser.”
–Doug Palmer and Adam Behsudi, “Trump says ‘very comprehensive deal’ with China within reach,” Politico, January 31, 2019 7:21 pm