Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says US seeks a reciprocal trade relationship with China
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo that rebalancing the economic relationship between the United States and China will present a greater opportunity for America’s economy.
“We want to have a reciprocal trading relationship and if we can do that, that's a tremendous opportunity for U.S. workers, for U.S. companies, to sell into a large, growing, China middle-class,” Mnuchin said on Monday.
President Trump is sending a high-level delegation to Beijing this week to further enhance trade talks. Mnuchin, along with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, will meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.
“The vice premier will come back with his team the following week. I think there is a strong desire from both sides to see if we can wrap this up or move on,” Mnuchin said on “Mornings with Maria.”
The proposed trade agreement between the world’s two largest economies has covered some key provisions, including forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft, currency manipulation and the impact tariffs have on U.S. farmers.
“The enforcement mechanism is close to done,” Mnuchin said in regards to IP theft. “So I would say that's one of the areas we have made a lot of progress, needs a little bit of fine tuning, but I would say we have a fundamental understanding in that area.”
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U.S. and China have been locked in a trade war since last year that has resulted in tit-for-tat tariffs against each other's goods. U.S. financial markets are also following and reacting to reports on progress and setbacks.
“The U.S. is really the bright spot of the world, we really see -- we see Europe's falling, we see China's slowing, we still see tremendous amounts of money coming into the U.S. economy and I think it looks very clear for the next year,” Mnuchin said.