{ "error": "", "type": "text", "title": "President Trump's Remarks Before Meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He", "slug": "president-trumps-remarks-before-meeting-with-chinese-vice-premier-liu-he", "text": "
\"PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It\u2019s a great honor to be with the Vice Premier of China, a very highly respected man in China. And we\u2019re negotiating trade and the trade agreement. And we have many representatives from China and \u2014 as you\u2019d know, and most of you know who they are \u2014 many representatives from the United States.<\/p>\n
I think we\u2019re getting along very well. Ultimately, I think the biggest decisions and some even smaller decisions will be made by President Xi and myself. And we expect to have a meeting sometime in the not-too-distant future.<\/p>\n
And I can only say talks are going along well, but we\u2019re going to have to see what happens. I think there\u2019ll be some points that this group won\u2019t agree on because maybe they\u2019re not supposed to agree on, allowed to agree on. And I think President Xi and I will work out the final points, perhaps. And perhaps not. [...] <\/p>
We\u2019re having very good talks. There\u2019s a chance that something very exciting could happen. This is a deal that would be signed by me. I\u2019ve been in touch with Congress. I\u2019ve been telling many of the people in Congress exactly where we are. We\u2019re, right now, getting a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of goods coming in \u2014 mostly technology and high technology.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re getting a 10 percent tariff on $200 billion worth of goods. The 10 percent goes up as of March 1st. It goes to a 25 percent number. So we\u2019d be getting 25 percent on $250 billion. And there\u2019s about $267 billion that\u2019s un-tariffed, untouched, which we\u2019ll discuss later.<\/p>\n
But if we could make a deal, we wouldn\u2019t have to bother with that discussion. So we\u2019ll see what happens. But we\u2019ve had very good talks. [...]
I think we\u2019re doing very well with regard to farmers and the buying of products from our farmers at a certain point. They\u2019ve [China] already made a big commitment to do that. But this will be a very, very substantial farm deal. This will be the biggest farm deal ever made, if you think about it. I don\u2019t think anything will be close, because it\u2019s China. So hopefully, if we arrive at a deal, they\u2019ll be buying lots of every form of farm product. [...]
<\/p>
I think the relationship has been very good. That\u2019s what I will say, more than anything else. As to whether we make a deal or not, who knows? But I think we have a good chance. But I think the relationship is outstanding. I think the relationship that we have now with China is better than it\u2019s ever been. And that\u2019s being \u2014 you know, making a big statement. Our relationship, the President \u2014 the President\u2019s relationship with me, President Xi\u2019s relationship with me \u2014 I think that it\u2019s the strongest it\u2019s ever been.<\/p>\n
One of the things that\u2019s so important to me is the fentanyl. And President Xi has agreed to criminalize the sale of fentanyl. Right now, it\u2019s not a criminal product because I guess they call it \u201cindustrial,\u201d or they call it something. But it\u2019s not a criminal product. And China has much tougher laws than we do in this country on drugs, so they don\u2019t have a big drug problem in China. They have a thing called the death penalty.<\/p>\n
And China has much tougher laws than we do. But they\u2019ve agreed to criminalize the sale of fentanyl, including the sale of fentanyl to the United States. And that is a tremendous thing because, as you know, most of it, if not all of it, comes from China. That would be a tremendous thing, in terms of our war on drugs.<\/p>\n
So I very much appreciate that. And that\u2019s another thing we\u2019ll be finalizing, hopefully, at the meeting that we have.<\/p>\n
So subject to where they are \u2014 and we\u2019re going to have a meeting now \u2014 but subject to where they are, we will be having at least an additional meeting. And then, ultimately, we\u2019ll have a meeting with myself and President Xi to discuss the final terms and things that haven\u2019t been agreed to. But I think a lot of those things have been agreed to, but they want he and I to agree to them in a final form. But the fentanyl is so important to us. The criminalization of fentanyl is so important to us, and we appreciate that. [...] <\/p>
Well, I set the deadline of March 1st, and right now it\u2019s at 10 percent. And I think that if \u2014 I mean, you can tell this to President Xi \u2014 I think \u2014 and if I see progress being made, substantial progress being made, it would not be inappropriate to extend that deadline \u2014 keep it at 10 percent, instead of raising it to 25 percent. And I would be inclined to doing that. I haven\u2019t even spoken to my people about it. Most people assume it\u2019ll just kick in automatically \u2014 the 25 percent. But I\u2019m the one that said it, and I think it was a reasonable period of time.<\/p>\n
But we\u2019re covering things that we didn\u2019t even know we\u2019d be covering. We\u2019re going very deep into the trade, and covering items that a lot of people wanted to cover and nobody thought we\u2019d ever get to. But we have a one-time shot at making a great deal for both countries. And so we are going to give it. [...] <\/p>
Q Where do things stand with Huawei and ZTE? Would you still consider a ban of Chinese technology?<\/p>\n
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, ZTE paid a big fine of $1.2 billion, which nobody has ever even heard of before. And we want everybody to compete. And I guess it will be somewhat of a subject that we\u2019re talking about here, Bob. We\u2019ll be talking about it. We may or may not include that in this deal.<\/p>\n
Q Include what?<\/p>\n
Q Would you drop criminal charges?<\/p>\n
PRESIDENT TRUMP: The Huawei and ZTE.<\/p>\n
Q Would you drop criminal charges against Huawei as part of this deal?<\/p>\n
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We\u2019re going to be discussing all of that during the course of the next couple of weeks. And we\u2019ll be talking to the U.S. Attorneys. We\u2019ll be talking to the Attorney General. But we\u2019ll be making that decision. Right now it\u2019s not something that we\u2019re discussing. [...]<\/p>
Q \u2014 you tweeted yesterday that the U.S. would not block out, currently, more advanced technology in terms of 5Gs, 6Gs. What do you mean?<\/p>\n
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I\u2019d like to have all companies be able to compete. I don\u2019t want to artificially block people out based on excuses or based on security. I don\u2019t want to have a security problem.<\/p>\n
Q Including Huawei?<\/p>\n
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Wait. I\u2019m talking about everybody, really \u2014 including. But I\u2019m talking about everybody. I don\u2019t want to use artificial blocking. We want to have great 5G. Ultimately, that\u2019s going to morph into 6G. And probably 6G will be obsolete in about two months, the way it\u2019s going \u2014 you know, the way that whole world moves. But 6G, at some point in the future, will be obsolete.<\/p>\n
But I want to have competition with China. Fair competition. I don\u2019t want to block out anybody if we can help it. Now if there\u2019s going to be a security reason or something, then we have no choice, but that is one of the things we\u2019ll be discussing today. We want to have open competition. We\u2019ve always done very well in open competition.\"<\/p>", "quote": null, "citation": "