Ross optimistic on reaching trade deal with China

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said that he believes the United States and China are likely to reach an arrangement they both “can live with,” as the two sides continue negotiations toward a deal to avert an escalation in their ongoing trade war.

“I think there’s a very good chance that we will get a reasonable settlement that China can live with, that we can live with and that addresses all of the key issues,” Ross said in an interview with CNBC.

Finding common ground on the deeper, structural issues relating to trade, however, would be a harder task, Ross said.

Following on from remarks made by President Donald Trump over the weekend, Ross said that China’s domestic economic problems were giving Beijing an incentive to reach a deal.

The slowdown is a “big problem in their context of having a very big need to create millions and millions of jobs to hold down social unrest coming out of the little villages,” said Ross. If job growth slows, Ross went on, this will create “a real social problem”.