Trump warns China not to wait for 2020 U.S. election to make trade deal

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a signing ceremony for the "Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act" in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, US on July 29, 2019. (REUTERS Photo)

WASHINGTON, July 30 (Reuters): U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned China against waiting out his first term in office to finalize any trade deal, saying if he wins re-election in the November 2020 U.S. presidential contest, the outcome could be no agreement or a worse one.

"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 said in a post on Twitter, as the latest U.S-China trade talks began in Shanghai.

Trump said China appeared to be backing off on a pledge to buy U.S. agricultural products, which U.S. officials have said could be a goodwill gesture and part of any final pact.

"China ... 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 wrote in a series of tweets.

U.S. and Chinese officials restarted negotiations after talks stalled in May in a bid to end a yearlong trade war marked by tit-for-tat tariffs, but must still resolve deep differences, keeping expectations for this week's two-day meeting low.