‘China meeting many of Trade demands’

WASHINGTON: White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Friday that China is "meeting many of our demands" on reducing its trade surplus with the United States but that no deal had emerged yet.

"China has come to trade," Kudlow told reporters at the White House as U.S. officials met with a Chinese trade delegation for a second day. "They are meeting many of our demands.

There is no deal yet to be sure, and it´s probably going to take a while to process, but they´re coming to play.

"I believe they want to make a deal. And we will help them, we will guide them toward our own asks," he added.

Kudlow also said the Chinese had offered a proposal to reduce their trade gap with the United States by more than $200 billion.

He cited the energy and farming sectors in particular. "The number is a good number," Kudlow said.

"I think, just as important, they have to lower their tariff rates, they have to lower their non-tariff barriers and we have to have a verifiable process whereby the technology transfers and the theft of intellectual property stops. It has to be verifiable."