By Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday his top trade chief, Jamieson Greer, plans to speak with his Chinese counterpart next week and reiterated his plan to use tariffs to help narrow the U.S. trade deficit with its main economic rival.
Trump also said that he plans to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but did not say when.
Trump has slapped new tariffs on Chinese goods and is threatening many more in early April, when he has promised to impose reciprocal levies on all countries that impose them on the United States.
“I’ll be speaking to President Xi. Have a great relationship with him. We’re gonna have a very good relationship, but we have a trillion dollar deficit,” Trump said.
(Reporting By Trevor Hunnicutt and Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
