Trump Signals Willingness to Walk Away From Inadequate China Deal

President Donald Trump, who has been saying China and the U.S. are "very, very close" to an agreement, sounded a different note in Vietnam, where he walked away from negotiations with North Korea when that country's denuclearization offer didn't go far enough. In a press conference in Vietnam, Trump said, "speaking of China, we're very well on our way to doing something special, but we'll see. I mean, I am always prepared to walk. I'm never afraid to walk from a deal. And I would do that with China, too, if it didn’t work out."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., cheered that approach in a speech Feb. 28: "President Trump must have the courage to do the same thing with China as he’s done with North Korea. The president must be willing to hold the line and walk away if China does not agree to meaningful, enduring, structural reform of its unfair trading policy. What he did in North Korea was right, he must do the same thing in China -- hold out, because he has the upper hand, until we get China to do the right thing.

"Now the president deserves credit for bringing China to the negotiating table with tariffs, but he must not squander that opportunity by cutting a deal that fails to achieve American priorities. Unless China promises to end its predatory cyber-theft of American intellectual property and know-how, unless China promises to stop artificially propping up its businesses, unless China promises to end its practice of forcing American companies to give away their IP to their future Chinese competitors in order to do business in China -- President Trump should walk away from negotiations once again."