Trump on China trade spat: 'We're going to win either way'

BURNSVILLE, Minn. - 16 April 2019: President Donald Trump said on Monday he believed the United States would emerge from its trade dispute with China as a winner, no matter what happened.

“We’re going to win either way. We either win by getting a deal or we win by not getting a deal,” Trump said during a visit to a business roundtable in Burnsville, Minnesota.

The world’s two biggest economies are nine months into a trade war that has cost billions of dollars, roiled financial markets and upended supply chains.

Trump’s administration has slapped tariffs on $250 billion worth of imports of Chinese goods to press demands for an end to policies that Washington says hurt U.S. companies competing with Chinese firms. China responded with its own tit-for-tat tariffs on U.S. goods.

Trump’s Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said earlier on Monday that trade negotiators are making a lot of progress. He told Fox Business Network there is more work to do, however, including enforcement.