President Donald Trump told reporters Friday that he has not committed to rolling back tariffs on China – a statement directly opposite to what appeared to be a breakthrough announcement from China on Thursday that the two countries had agreed on a deal to start rolling back tariffs in phases, easing the U.S-China trade war.
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Trump told reporters as he left on a trip to Georgia that “they want to make a deal a lot more than I do. I’m very happy right now.”
On Thursday, as part of a “phase one” agreement, Beijing and Washington acknowledged a plan to roll back tariffs, according to a Trump administration official. A Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman, Gao Feng, also confirmed this agreement, saying if talks continued, a ‘phased cancellation’ of tariff hikes would progress, according to the Associated Press. The rollbacks would have been an important easing of the current trade war.
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On Thursday, in the wake of the announcement that both tariffs and the trade war could be rolled back, the S&P 500 index jumped to a record-high by midday and the Dow jumped more than 200 points. Trump took to Twitter, saying “Enjoy!”
On Friday, both the S&P 500 and the Dow averages were lower.
Navy Vet