Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue made a recent appearance on CNBC to talk about U.S. trade negotiations with China.
The secretary says President Trump wants a “phase one” deal with China that works for the United States.
“The president wants to come to a deal that’s enforceable, that’s reliable, and will be consistent with what the deal says.”
His appearance on CNBC happened shortly after a Bloomberg report said that the U.S. and China were edging closer to wrapping up an agreement before new U.S. tariffs go into effect December 15th on more Chinese imports.
During the NATO summit this week, Trump told reporters that trade talks with China are “going well.”
He made those comments just one day after saying he might want to delay a deal with China until after the 2020 presidential election.
Beijing and Washington have hit each other’s goods with billions of dollars in tariffs.
The moves have hit U.S. farmers especially hard. Nearly $20 billion in U.S. agricultural exports went to China last year alone.
“We in agriculture are optimistically hopeful that we can conclude this,” Perdue tells CNBC.
However, he reiterated administration concerns that China won’t follow through on what it promises in the agreement.