Trump economic adviser ‘very comfortable' with a trade deal closing with China on Monday

CNN

5 hours ago

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Sunday that he is 'very comfortable' with a trade deal closing between the United States and China after the two sides meet Monday in London.
Hassett's comments on CBS' 'Face the Nation' come after President Donald Trump said last week that he had a 'very good' conversation with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and that talks with China are 'very far advanced.'
Hassett said the United States is looking to restore the flow of 'crucial' rare earth minerals, which are used in the manufacturing of electronics, to the same levels before early April, when the US-China trade war escalated.
'Those exports of critical minerals have been getting released at a rate that is higher than it was, but not as high as we believe we agreed to in Geneva,' Hassett said.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will lead the negotiations in London, along with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who in May led a weekend of the trade talks in Geneva.
But tensions between the nations escalated weeks later after Trump posted on Truth Social that China 'totally violated' its 90-day trade agreement, which had dialed back the tit-for-tat trade war. Under the agreement, the US temporarily lowered its overall tariffs on Chinese goods from 145% to 30%, while China cut its levies on American imports from 125% to 10%.
Under the agreement, China said it would suspend or cancel its non-tariff countermeasures imposed on the United States since April 2. Part of Beijing's retaliatory measures included export restrictions on some rare earth minerals, which are essential parts used in products such as iPhones, electric vehicles and fighter jets.
The Trump administration on April 2 imposed sweeping 'reciprocal' tariffs on dozens of trading partners before pausing them for 90 days and lowering them to a 10% baseline. Hassett on Sunday declined to say what baseline tariffs could be in place moving forward as the Trump administration continues negotiations with trading partners ahead of the July 9 deadline.
'You could be certain that there's going to be some tariffs,' Hassett said.
Lutnick told CNN's 'State of the Union' in May that 'we will not go below 10%' and to expect that baseline rate for the foreseeable future.
The Trump administration has so far announced only one trade deal, with the United Kingdom.
The Trump administration has touted that other countries, particularly China, will bear the burden of tariffs. Businesses and economists have warned otherwise, spurring uncertainty about consumer spending and fears of a potential recession. Amid those concerns, US inflation slowed to its lowest rate in more than four years in April. The annual inflation rate fell from a 2.4% increase in March to 2.3% as consumer prices rose 0.2%, according to Consumer Price Index data.
'All of our policies together are reducing inflation and helping reduce the deficit by getting revenue from other countries,' Hassett said.
The Treasury Department reported that a record $16.3 billion was collected in gross customs duties in April, a sharp jump from the $8.75 billion that was collected in March.
Since the start of the 2025 fiscal year, which began in October 2024, the United States has collected about $63.3 billion in gross customs duties — a more than $15 billion increase from the same period during the last fiscal year. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that increased tariff revenue, without accounting for effects on the US economy, could reduce total deficits by $3 trillion over the next decade.
The US government deficit stood at about $2 trillion in 2024, or roughly 7% of gross domestic product, according to a June 2024 report by the CBO. Meanwhile, House Republicans' sweeping bill to enact Trump's policy agenda would pile another $3.8 trillion to the government's $36 trillion debt pile, according to recent CBO estimates.
CNN's Matt Egan and Alicia Wallace contributed to this report.