By Joshua Caplan11 May 20201,201
1:10

President Donald Trump on Monday ruled out renegotiating the United States’ trade agreement with China during a Rose Garden press conference amid reports that Beijing seeks more favorable terms during the coronavirus pandemic that it stands accused of attempting to cover up.

A transcript is as follows:

REPORTER STEVE HOLLAND: The South China Morning Post, the Beijing newspaper, says China would like to reopen negotiations on the trade deal to make the terms more favorable to them. Is this something you’d be interested in doing?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, not at all. Not even a little bit. I’m not interested. We signed a deal. I had heard that too that they’d like to reopen the trade talks to make it a better deal for them. China’s been taking advantage of the United States for many, many years, for decades. Because we had people in this position, right here where I’m standing, sitting in the Oval Office, that allowed that to happen. No, I’m not interested. Let’s see if they live up to the deal that they signed.