Donald Trump suggested a US trade deal with China "will happen" after agreeing on the bones of a trade deal with South Korea covering more than just tariffs.
The US President said his administration is "dealing with many other countries" but not yet China, which earlier said it will fight Trump's tariffs "to the end".
In a social media post, Trump said broad talks were continuing with other countries and that China "wants to make a deal, badly, but they don’t know how to get it started. We are waiting for their call. It will happen," he said.
The President said the talks with the acting president of South Korea covered the country's "tremendous and unsustainable" trade surplus with the US, as well as "tariffs, shipbuilding, large scale purchase of US LNG, their joint venture in an Alaska pipeline, and payment for the big time military protection we provide to South Korea".
He said "we have the confines and probability of a great deal for both countries".
Talks between Washington and other nations, as with Korea, are covering other areas "that are not covered by trade and tariffs, and getting them negotiated also," Trump said, in a process he called 'one stop shopping'.
He said Seoul began 'military payments' of billions of dollars during his first term, but that Joe Biden had terminated the deal.