The Republican president also said that he plans to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but did not say when.
China has not commented on the possibility of a Trump-Xi meeting. Beijing has rejected Trump’s trade measures as counterproductive and unwarranted, and has imposed limited retaliatory duties of 10 percent on imports of American oil, liquefied natural gas and farm equipment. It has also touted its efforts on counter-narcotics.
“Yes,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question in the White House’s Oval Office about whether a potential meeting involving his trade chief was in the works.
“I’ll be speaking to President Xi. I have a great relationship with him. We’re gonna have a very good relationship, but we have a trillion-dollar deficit,” Trump said.
It was not immediately clear which Chinese official would join the talks with Greer.
Greer’s office has proposed port fees of up to US$1.5 million every time a Chinese ship docks in the US as part of a trade probe into China’s domination of global shipbuilding and maritime logistics services.
The Chinese embassy in Washington and the United States Trade Representative’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
