A trade deal with China has to be a good deal on all fronts: Sen. Lindsey Graham
The clock is ticking toward a Friday Mar, 1 deadline for China and the United States to treach a trade deal and prevent a hike in tariffs on goods from China to go into effect.
On that day, a 90-day truce would end that President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to when they met in Argentina late last year.
President Trump said on Tuesday that talks with China were going well and suggested he was open to pushing off the deadline to complete negotiations, saying Mar. 1 was not a "magical" date.
The past week saw talks on the highest level, including a meeting between President Trump and China’s top trade negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He. The two expressed optimism that a deal could be reached and extended talks by two days.
"Their economy has taken a 30 something percent hit because Trump has stood up to them. They sell us a lot more than we buy from them," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman (R-SC), Lindsey Graham. "We want a better balance of trade, but what we want to do is stop business practices that cheat us out of market share."
"We got an agreement on currency manipulation, that is one of the ways they cheat us out of market share, intellectual property theft, changing the rules if you go to China, you have to hire a Chinese business partner. They'll steal you bind," Graham told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures. "We want a deal, but it has to be a good deal on all fronts."
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And ahead this week's upcoming summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jung-Un, Graham added "Its not too much to ask China to help us withe a neighbor called North Korea, that is causing instability throughout the world. Trump is putting pressure on China unlike any president in my lifetime."
Graham says all the U.S. wants is for China to play by the WTO rules as a developed nation.