"China is doing very badly, worst year in 27 — was supposed to start buying our agricultural product now — no signs that they are doing so. That is the problem with China, they just don’t come through," the president tweeted Tuesday. | Alex Wong/Getty Images trade Trump warns China deal will get worse 'if & when' he's reelected

President Donald Trump on Tuesday railed against China for failing to deliver on his high-profile promise it would buy significant quantities of farm goods, warning the country not to try to wait out his administration in hopes of negotiating a better deal with any new Democratic president.

"The problem with them waiting ... is that if & when I win, the deal that they get will be much tougher than what we are negotiating now ... or no deal at all," Trump wrote on Twitter. "We have all the cards, our past leaders never got it!"


Trump's comments, spread out over three tweets, came as U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were in Shanghai for the first round of negotiations since talks between the two countries broke off in early May.

There is growing skepticism that the trade fight between the world's two biggest economies will be resolved before American voters decide in November 2020 whether to give Trump a second term. The most some expect from this week's talks is an agreement to meet again, as well as a resumption of Chinese purchases of U.S. farm goods and progress on tech issues.

"We do not expect a written agreement between the two countries that would result in a reduction of existing tariffs until 2021, after the U.S. presidential election," Agathe Demarais, global forecasting director at The Economist Intelligence Unit, said Tuesday in an analytical note.

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Trump was asked by reporters Tuesday about the possibility of a much-delayed agreement before departing for an event in Jamestown, Va., to mark the 400th anniversary of the first representative legislative assembly in North America.

"I think if China had their wish, they'd wait until after the election. They'll pray that Trump loses, and then they'll make a deal with a stiff — somebody that doesn’t know what they're doing," Trump said, referring to one of his Democratic rivals, former Vice President Joe Biden, and past presidents, including Barack Obama.

Trump has imposed a 25 percent duty on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods to pressure Beijing to make a number of trade reforms. China has retaliated by imposing duties on $110 billion worth of U.S. goods and taking other steps that make it more difficult for some American companies to do business there.

Analysts say China would like a deal to end the uncertainty that has surrounded trade relations with the United States since Trump took office, but it is not willing to pay just any price.

In Beijing, a quarterly economic report released by the Politburo, the ruling Communist Party's top decision-making body headed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, said China has the chance to turn "a crisis into an opportunity" by relying more on domestic demand, rather than exports, to fuel future economic growth, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The meetings this week in Shanghai mark the 12th round of negotiations since December and the first since talks broke down in May, after the United States accused China of reneging on certain commitments.

Trump and Xi agreed to resume negotiations when the two leaders met at the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, in late June. During a closing press conference, Trump said China would immediately begin purchasing substantial quantities of farm goods. But a month later no high-profile sales have emerged.

"China is doing very badly, worst year in 27 — was supposed to start buying our agricultural product now — no signs that they are doing so. That is the problem with China, they just don’t come through," Trump said Tuesday in one of his tweets.

China is doing very badly, worst year in 27 - was supposed to start buying our agricultural product now - no signs that they are doing so. That is the problem with China, they just don’t come through. Our Economy has become MUCH larger than the Chinese Economy is last 3 years.... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2019

At the Osaka summit, Trump also indicated he would be easing some national security trade restrictions on Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, a big foreign customer.

In a sign of progress on that front, the president agreed during a meeting with semiconductor and software company CEOs last week to an industry request that the Commerce Department provide "timely licensing decisions" on sales to Huawei, White House spokesperson Judd Deere said.

Still, Trump's moves toward easing up on Huawei have drawn the ire of China hawks in both parties who fear the president could choose short-term agricultural purchases over national security.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, in a speech Monday on the Senate floor, urged Trump not to easily give up his leverage on Huawei, one of China's biggest companies.

"The Trump administration has correctly sought restrictions on Huawei, even while they’ve sometimes [wavered] on their severity," Schumer said. "Now, as negotiations are set to resume, the president must not give up leverage on Huawei in exchange for anything less than concrete commitments on market access, intellectual property theft, and forced technology transfers."

