Trump says trade deal with China could be reached in about four weeks

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States and China could wrap up trade talks within four weeks after making quick progress on the potentially "epic" deal.

"We are getting very close to making a deal," he said ahead of a White House meeting with Chinese trade envoy Liu He. "Progress is being made at a very rapid pace."

"We will probably know over the next four weeks. It may take two weeks after that.... It's looking very good."

A deal would allow a summit between him and Chinese President Xi Jinping, he said.

Xi assured Trump that text of the China-US trade could be finalised soon, in a message conveyed by Liu He. 

According to state-run news agency Xinhua, Liu He told Trump that Xi believed under his and Trump’s leadership, China-US relations will make new and greater progress. 

Xi said that in the past month or more, the two sides’ trade teams had maintained close contact and “achieved new and substantive progress on issues in the text of two countries’ trade agreement”. 

“I hope the two sides’ trade teams can continue working in the spirit of mutual respect, equality, and mutual benefit to resolve each other’s concerns, and finish negotiations on the text of the China-US trade agreement soon,” Xi said to Trump through Liu.

TRT World's Harry Horton has more details from Washington, DC.

'Everything is covered'

Earlier, Trump said that the negotiations were for an agreement covering the full range of US concerns.

"Everything is covered, there's nothing that's not covered," Trump said, referring to the scope of US demands.

"It's got to be a great deal," he said. "If it's not a great deal, we're not doing it."

Trump said the deal was potentially for an "epic" and "historic" agreement.

Last year, Trump launched a trade war with China, seeking to slash that country's soaring trade surplus with the United States, end alleged unfair trade practices such as the theft of American technology and China's massive state intervention in markets.

Washington and Beijing since last year have imposed tariffs on more than $360 billion in two-way trade, biting into their manufacturing sectors as the world economy shows signs of slowing.