Politics

Trump hails trade deal with China as one of the largest ever made

Key Points
  • Late Saturday, the White House said in a statement that the U.S. would leave the tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese products at a 10 percent rate, and not raise it to 25 percent at this time.
  • Traveling back to the U.S. from the G-20 summit in Argentina, Trump told reporters he had struck an "incredible deal."
  • Trump also told reporters that he thinks there could be a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in January or February next year.
President Donald Trump, U.S. President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin attend a working dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping after the G20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina December 1, 2018. 
Kevin Lemarque | CNBC

President Donald Trump has told reporters on Air Force One that a trade deal brokered with China is one of the largest ever made.

After meeting at the G-20 summit in Argentina, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed a temporary stop to their bilateral trade disagreement, striking a deal to hold off on any additional tariffs on each other's goods after January 1.

"It's an incredible deal. It goes down, certainly, if it happens, it goes down as one of the largest deals ever made," Trump said while en route to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

As per an earlier statement from the White House , the U.S. leader also said China would now look to buy from the U.S. a "tremendous amount of agricultural and other products," in a bid to address the one way flow of trade.

"It'll have an incredibly positive impact on farming, meaning agriculture, industrial products, computers, every type of product," Trump told a gaggle of reporters.

The U.S. government had threatened to more than double the tariffs it has already placed on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports, while Xi's government has put targeted tariffs on $110 billion in U.S. goods.

"What I'd be doing is holding back on tariffs. China will be opening up. China will be getting rid of tariffs. You know, China right now has major trade barriers — they're major tariffs — and also major non-tariff barriers, which are brutal," Trump said.

Trump also suggested that following their talks, President Xi could now approve a deal for Qualcomm to buy chip rival NXP.

"The Qualcomm deal that they rejected — which was one of the larger deals of its kind, which China rejected — if that deal came back to him, he would most likely approve it quickly, which is a big thing."

Kim Jong Un meeting

Trump also told reporters that he thinks there could be a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in January or February next year.

"We're getting along very well. We have a good relationship," Trump said, before adding that at some point he will invite Kim to the United States.