President Donald Trump said existing tariffs will be necessary to ensure China abides by its commitments if a broader trade deal is reached. | Thomas Peter-Pool/Getty Images Trade Trump warns he'll keep China tariffs for 'substantial period of time'

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the United States will not immediately lift tariffs on $250 million worth of Chinese goods even if a trade deal with Beijing is reached in coming weeks.

"No, we're not talking about removing them," Trump told reporters before departing the White House for a trip to Ohio. "We're talking about leaving them ... for a substantial period of time because we have to make sure that if we do the deal with China that China lives by the deal."


Trump also said his "top representatives" would be going to China this weekend to continue talks, confirming earlier administration statements that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would be returning to Beijing for negotiations next week.

Trump imposed a 10 percent duty on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods and a 25 percent duty on another $50 billion. Some Democrats have expressed concern that he could agree to immediately lift the duties if his administration reaches a deal with Beijing to resolve a number of trade concerns, thus giving up leverage to ensure China abides by the pact.

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However, China is believed to be reluctant to address Trump's demands — or to remove its retaliation against $110 billion of U.S. exports — if the U.S. duties are left in place.

Lighthizer, in testimony last week before the Senate Finance Committee, resisted specifying when the tariffs would be lifted if an agreement is finalized.

“That‘s the subject of the negotiation, so I’m not getting into it here in public,” Lighthizer told Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the panel's ranking member. “But I do agree with you that we have to have real progress and we have to maintain the right to be able to — whatever happens to the current tariffs — to raise tariffs when there are situations where there’s violations of the agreement.“

A few days after the Senate Finance hearing, White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow said a tentative agreement had been reached with China on how a broader pact would be enforced. That agreement features proposals that would allow the United States to impose certain duties if Beijing is found to have violated its commitments — and China would not be permitted to retaliate, Kudlow said.

