In his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, President Trump will provide details on further steps in U.S.-China trade relations, says a senior administration official. The nations signed a “phase one” agreement to de-escalate the trade war on Jan. 15 and Trump indicated “phase two” negotiations would begin soon, although no date has been announced.
“I’m not going to preview about what he’s going to say on trade. But, yes,” said the official when asked if Trump would discuss future steps with China. The official gave a preview of the speech to reporters on Friday under White House rules that he be identified as a senior administration official. A dominant theme of the speech will be optimism about the future, including the beneficial effects of the agreement with China and U.S. approval of the new NAFTA, said the senior administration official.
Trump also will discuss immigration, in the context of construction of a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico and so-called sanctuary cities, which the senior administration official described as a significant threat to public safety.
At the signing ceremony for the trade agreement with China, Trump said he would “be going to China in the not-too-distant future to reciprocate.” The agreement calls on China to double or triple its purchases of U.S. ag exports — up to $50 billion in sales according to Trump. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said purchases would depend on domestic demand and U.S. prices.
A few days later, Trump told the largest U.S. farm group that the government would release a final round of $3.6 billion in trade-war payments for 2019 crops and livestock. Farmers and ranchers already have received $10.9 billion in trade payments for 2019 production. They received $8.6 billion to mitigate the impact of retaliatory tariffs on 2018 crops and livestock.