WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that trade talks with China were going well and he would only accept a “great” deal as negotiators hammered out differences ahead of a meeting between Trump and China’s vice premier later in the day.

China and the United States are in the middle of intense negotiations to end a months-long trade war that has rattled global markets. Washington wants sweeping changes to China’s economic and trade policies, while Beijing wants Trump to lift expensive sanctions on Chinese goods.

Read:Will Trump and Xi agree to a ceasefire in US-China trade war?

The White House has no plans to announce a date on Thursday for a trade summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, senior administration officials said, though they would not rule out the possibility.

Talks are scheduled to go through Friday and possibly longer.

“If it’s not a great deal, we’re not doing it. But it’s going very well. Top officials are here. And we’re very well along on the deal. It’s a very complex deal. It’s a very big deal,” Trump told reporters.

“It’ll be a great deal for our farmers. Technology, intellectual property theft — everything is covered. There’s not a thing that’s not covered,” he said.

Trump is slated to meet with China’s top trade negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He, at 4:30pm (2030 GMT) in the Oval Office.

The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times reported that Trump was expected to announce a date for a summit at that time, but a senior administration official told Reuters that was incorrect.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2019