Trump's economic advisers say China has not agreed to slash auto tariffs, despite Trump's tweet

Trump and Xi Jinping at a table in Buenos Aires

(Image credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

published 4 December 2018

President Trump's awkwardly-phrased "BIG leap forward" with China on trade got a little smaller on Monday, as his economic team said that contrary to a Trump tweet on Sunday night, China did not agree to "reduce and remove tariffs on cars coming into China from the U.S." China raised tariffs on U.S. auto imports to 40 percent, from 15 percent, in retaliation for Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a temporary truce on Saturday night. Getting auto tariffs down to zero is aspirational, Trump's advisers said.

"We don't yet have a specific agreement on that, but I will just tell you ... we expect those tariffs to go to zero," Larry Kudlow, Trump's top economic adviser, told reporters Monday. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said "there is an immediate focus on reducing auto tariffs," but "there's a lot of work to be done over the next 90 days." Trump's top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, said auto tariffs "certainly came up in discussions" with China, but "that's just one of the many tariffs that have to be reduced."

Trump's trade talks with China, with more tariff hikes paused for 90 days, and his push for a skeptical Congress to ratify his revised NAFTA agreement with Canada and Mexico, "are at the center of the White House's agenda and could have profound implications for the global economy if negotiations collapse," The Washington Post notes. "At the same time, they are also fraught with confusion and ambiguity, complicating urgent timelines set by Trump." You can read Jeff Spross' anaysis of Trump's China truce at The Week.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.