WASHINGTON -- President Trump on Monday said that China is feeling the pain from U.S. tariffs, boding well for a trade deal, but talks so far between the two nations haven't yielded concrete results.
"We're doing very well with China. They're having a hard time with their economy because of the tariffs," Mr. Trump told reporters before leaving for a speech in New Orleans, where he is scheduled to address the American Farm Bureau Federation.
"We are getting things that before I became president, you would have had no chance of getting," Mr. Trump said. "I think we're going to be able to do a deal with China."
While U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports have put pressure on China's weakening economy, retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agriculture exports imposed by China have also punished U.S. farmers, who so far have stuck with the administration politically. The Trump administration's tariffs have raised costs on U.S. importers, some of whom have begun passing those along to American consumers.
While resolving the trade fight with China remains a top priority, Mr. Trump is also battling Congress over funding for a wall along the Mexican border that has spawned the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history -- an impasse that has interrupted federal aid to farmers hurt by China's retaliatory action.
Mr. Trump's suggestion that a trade deal is close may be a signal that he's willing to accept a compromise, said Harvard University economist Martin Feldstein, who headed Reagan administration's Council of Economic Advisers. "He's nervous about what the trade conflict with China is doing to the stock market," Mr. Feldstein said.
After three days of talks last week in Beijing, the two sides are still far from making a deal, say people on both sides of the Pacific briefed on the talks. Mid-level negotiators discussed issues including purchases of agricultural products and liquefied natural gas, Chinese subsidies for domestic firms, and Chinese government pressure on U.S. firms to transfer technology.
But negotiators didn't reach even preliminary deals on any of the subjects, these people say. Rather, the two sides made more clear their respective positions.
On agricultural purchases, for instance, the two sides discussed the tariffs, regulations, licenses and other barriers imposed by China that sharply limit rice and corn purchases. On subsidies, negotiators looked at the role that China's state-owned companies play.
Beijing didn't make any firm commitments, said the people briefed on the discussions. Beijing agreed on the need to enforce any deal, for example, but didn't pledge specific ways to carry out such enforcement.
Hawkish members of the Trump administration are pressing China for significant changes in its industrial policies, and it's far from clear that Beijing will accommodate those demands. That has led some economists and market analysts to speculate that Mr. Trump may settle for a lesser deal, largely involving increased Chinese purchases.
On Jan. 30, more-senior negotiators plan to meet in the U.S. They include Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
President Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping met in Buenos Aires and declared a truce in the trade battle to give time for negotiations. If the two sides don't reach a deal -- or agree to extend the truce -- the Trump administration's 10% tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods will rise to 25% at 12:01 a.m. on March 2.
Chinese exports fell 4.4% in December, compared to a year earlier. Chinese imports, meanwhile fell 7.6% in December, reflecting a weakening economy.
For the year, China recorded a $323.32 billion trade surplus with the U.S., up 17% from 2017, according to Chinese government trade data released Monday.