Trade deal with China either before or after US polls: Trump

Washington: President Donald Trump has said that there may be a trade deal with China either before the US elections or after the presidential polls, asserting that deal struck after the polls would be the "greatest" deal ever.

The US and China have been locked in an escalating trade spat since early 2018, raising import tariffs on each other's goods. US President Trump has imposed tariff hikes of up to 25 per cent on $250 billion of Chinese goods.

The move prompted China to increase tariffs on $110 billion of US goods. "I think there'll be a deal maybe soon, maybe before the election, or one day after the election. And if it's after the election, it'll be a deal like you've never seen, it'll be the greatest deal ever and China knows that. They think I'm going to win," Trump told reporters abroad Air Force One.

Trump said China thinks he was going to win the elections and are concerned about it. "They are concerned because I told them, if it's after the election, it's going to be far worse than what it is right now. I told them that. Would they like to see somebody else win? Absolutely," said the US President.

"It'll be the greatest deal ever made and China knows that," he asserted. The two countries have been negotiating a trade deal since last November, but without any success so far.

"If it's after the election, it'll be the toughest deal anybody's ever had to make from the standpoint of China, and they know that. China knows that. China would love to have Sleepy Joe and Elizabeth 'Pocahontas' Warren," Trump said.

The president, the Chinese are starting to buy American farm products big league. Trump has threatened punitive measures against Chinese goods if Beijing does not cut down the trade deficit by $100 billion in a month and $200 billion by 2020.

US says it has $375 billion trade deficit in $636 billion total trade last year. China says the trade deficit is around $200 billion. China too threatened a tit-for-tat retaliation but blinked in the end with a categorical undertaking to import more goods from US.

The trade spat between the top two economies of the world began last month with Trump imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports into US. China retaliated by imposing additional tariffs worth about $3 billion on 128 US products.