Trump says China trade talks progressing nicely

By Michael Hernandez</p> <p>WASHINGTON (AA) – Trade talks between the world’s two largest economies are &quot;going pretty well,&quot; U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday ahead of an expected meeting with his Chinese counterpart.</p> <p>Trump and Xi Jinping are slated to meet at either the end of March or early April at Trump's Florida golf resort to hammer out the final details of a trade pact aimed at ending a year-long U.S.-Sino trade war. </p> <p>Mutual tariffs sparked by the president have spiraled higher, but Trump halted a planned increase in the U.S.'s economic penalties on Chinese imports that was set to go into effect at the start of March in order to allow negotiations to continue. </p> <p>The Trump administration signaled it could remove tariffs on China if Beijing makes structural changes to intellectual property rights and imports a significant amount of U.S. goods every year.</p> <p>The U.S. had a trade deficit with China worth roughly $335 billion in 2017, according to the U.S. Trade Representative's Office. </p> <p>The trade war between the two countries has reverberated across markets, with investors closely eyeing developments amid sluggish global growth.