Trump says he and Xi will sign China trade deal

Friday, 27 December 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters): US President Donald Trump said this week he and Chinese President Xi Jinping will have a signing ceremony to sign the first phase of the US-China trade deal agreed to this month.

“We will be having a signing ceremony, yes,” Trump told reporters. “We will ultimately, yes, when we get together. And we’ll be having a quicker signing because we want to get it done. The deal is done, it’s just being translated right now.”

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on 13 December that representatives from both countries would sign the Phase 1 trade deal agreement in the first week of January.

Speaking in Beijing on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said both countries were in close contact.

“Both sides’ economic and trade teams are in close communication about detailed arrangements for the deal’s signing and other follow-up work,” Geng told a daily news briefing.

He did not elaborate.

Beijing has not yet confirmed specific components of the deal that were released by US officials. A spokesman for China’s Commerce Ministry said last week the details would be made public after the official signing.