In an interview on Fox News on Friday, President Donald Trump said that a long-negotiated trade deal with China is “potentially very close”, while both sides say they want to work out an agreement, Trump said he is “not anxious” to hash one out, claiming that the US benefits from tariffs on Chinese imports.  Chinese President Xi Jinping said he would not want to ruin the ongoing trade talks but would respond if necessary.

The so-called phase one deal with China has yet to be completed, even though Trump announced that the two economic superpowers had come to a “very substantial phase one deal” more than a month earlier.