Trump expects ‘fantastic’ trade deal with China, notes ‘fair’ deals with S. Korea, Japan, EU

US President Donald Trump on Monday expressed his expectation that Washington will reach a “very strong” trade deal with Beijing during his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, while noting that his administration has struck “fair” deals with Korea, Japan and the European Union.

Trump made the remarks during a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House, reiterating that he will meet with Xi in Korea “in a couple of weeks,” as Korea is set to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in its southeastern city of Gyeongju from Oct. 31-Nov. 1.

Trump is widely expected to visit Korea from Oct. 29-30 on a state visit amid a fresh escalation of trade tensions with China following Beijing’s recent move to tighten export controls on rare earths — crucial components for the production of key military and commercial products.

“When we leave South Korea, it could be wrong, but I think we’ll end up with a very strong trade deal,” he said. “Both of us will be happy.”

Voicing confidence that he will strike a “fantastic” deal with Xi that will be “fantastic” for both countries and for the “entire world,” Trump also pointed out the deals that his administration reached with South Korea, Japan and the EU.

“I can say the EU took advantage (of the US), but not anymore. We worked out a very fair trade deal,” he said.

“(With) Japan, we worked out a very fair deal. (With) South Korea, where I’ll be meeting President Xi, we worked out a very fair deal, and I expect we’ll probably work out a very fair deal with President Xi of China.”

Trump repeated his claim that he has “great” ties with Xi.

“I want to be good to China. I love my relationship with President Xi. We have a great relationship,” he said, reiterating that he has been invited to visit China, and that he will travel there sometime early next year.

His remarks followed his threat earlier this month to call off the meeting with Xi over Beijing’s export control measures.

Excoriating China for what he called an “extraordinarily aggressive position” on trade, Trump announced plans to impose an additional 100 percent tariff on Chinese goods, starting Nov. 1, and implement export controls on all critical software on the same day.

Trump said that unless a deal is reached, the US tariffs on China could rise significantly, as announced,

“China is paying 55 percent (tariffs), and potentially 155 percent come Nov. 1 unless we make a deal,” he said at the meeting with the Australian prime minister.

“And I’m meeting with President Xi. We have a very good relationship. We’re going to be meeting in South Korea in a couple of weeks, and we will see what we can do.”

Regarding a question about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s remarks that the Chinese president ordered the military to be capable of invading Taiwan by 2027, Trump said that he and Xi will “get along very well as it pertains to Taiwan.”

“And that doesn’t mean it’s not the apple of his eye because probably it is,” he said. “But I don’t see anything happening.”

Trump boasted that the US is “way ahead of China” “in every form of the military,” stressing that China’s military is “not even close.”

“We are way ahead of China in the artificial intelligence, ahead of China militarily from the standpoint of the sophisticated weapons,” he said. “We have weapons that a lot of people don’t even know about.” (Yonhap)

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