Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, put a damper on the prospect of the U.S. and China wrapping up trade talks in the next few weeks. Politico says Kudlow is normally upbeat, but he threw out a bunch of caution last week by saying it may take a few months yet for President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to meet and finalize an agreement to end the trade war.
“We’ll get there when we get there, and it will be a historic moment,” Kudlow said during the keynote speech at the Export-Import Bank’s annual conference. “If it takes a few more weeks or a few more months, so be it.”
Negotiations were still ongoing as of late last week as both U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (Muh-NOO-chin) were in Beijing. A Chinese delegation will visit Washington, D.C., this week in order to continue talks and will likely meet with President Trump.
However, Politico says any permanent end to the trade war between the world’s two largest economies will have to come during a face-to-face meeting between the two presidents.