INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
LONDON: US President Donald
Trump said a trade agreement with China might have to wait until after the United States presidential election
in November 2020, denting hopes of a quick resolution to a dispute that has weighed on the world economy.
"I have no deadline, no
In some ways, I think I think it's better to wait until after the election with China,"
Trump told reporters in London, where he was due
to attend a meeting of NATO leaders.
"In some ways, I like the idea of waiting until after the election for the China deal
But they want to make a deal now, and we'll see whether or not the deal's going to be right; it's got to be right."
European share
prices, United States stock futures and the Chinese yuan currency fell on
Trump's comments.
Investors have been hoping that the United
States and China can avert an escalation of their trade tensions
United States officials have previously said a deal could happen this year, depending on China.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index turned
negative as
Trump spoke, weighed down by export-heavy mining stocks.
Washington and Beijing have yet to ink a so-called "phase one"
agreement announced in October, which had raised hopes of a de-escalation.
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had planned to meet and
sign the preliminary trade deal at an Asia-Pacific leaders' summit in Chile in mid-November, but the summit was canceled.
Trump, who had
said in September that he did not need a deal before the 2020 election, sought on Tuesday to put pressure on Beijing.
"The China trade deal
is dependent on one thing - do I want to make it, because we are doing very well with China right now, and we can do even better with a
"And China is paying for it, and China is having by far the worst year that they have had in 57 years
So we'll see what happens."
China reported its slowest economic growth in 27 years in October as the trade tensions with the United States
hit its manufacturing sector.
On Monday, before travelling to London,
Trump said United States legislation backing protesters in Hong Kong
was not making trade negotiations with China easier, but he believed Beijing still wanted a deal with the United States.
United States
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has said that Dec
15, when a further 15% United States tariff on about $156 billion worth of Chinese imports is set to take effect, is a natural deadline for
