WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump is so “miffed” with Beijing over the novel coronavirus and other matters that the U.S.-China trade deal is not as important to him as it once was.
Speaking on Fox News Channel, Kudlow also called Beijing’s actions in Hong Kong very disturbing.
He said the U.S.-China “Phase 1” trade deal reached in January was intact for the moment, but that the Trump administration was watching to see whether Beijing meets the commitments it made.
Losing patience after Hong Kong did not adopt national security legislation on its own, China announced on Thursday that it would directly enact laws to tackle secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference in the city.
“I think China is making a big mistake, frankly,” Kudlow told Fox Business Network in a subsequent interview.
He said the Trump administration would welcome back any American company in Hong Kong or on the Chinese mainland that wanted to return to the United States. “We will do what we can for full expensing and pay the cost of moving if they return their supply chains and their production to the United States,” Kudlow said.
(Reporting by Tim Ahmann, Lisa Lambert and Daphne Psaledakis; editing by Franklin Paul and Jonathan Oatis)
