Trade negotiations between the U.S. and China will yield immediate results that will come even during the 90-day negotiation period ahead, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said Monday.
Tariffs on agriculture and energy products will be lowered while nontariff barriers on American ownership of companies in China also will come down, Kudlow told the Fox Business Network. In addition, Kudlow expects progress on technology transfers and intellectual property.
"Those things should kick in soon. We should see palpable change on the Chinese side immediately," he said. "I don't want to be too specific, but I think the generic answer is we will see changes very quickly."
The two sides announced over the weekend that they reached an agreement in which further tariff escalation would be halted during the 90-day negotiation period. Earlier in the day, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he also is optimistic that a deal can be reached after months of tensions between Washington and Beijing.
President Donald Trump has set reducing the trade deficit with China and addressing issues over intellectual property and technology theft as a major priority. He has threatened to level tariffs against all Chinese imports, which have totaled $394.7 billion so far in 2018.
However, Kudlow stressed that the U.S. is eager to keep trade lively with China so long as an agreement is reached.
"If China opens its markets as they promised to do, and they're going to do it fast according to their promises, we will increase our exports substantially for the simple reason that whether it's agriculture or industry, the U.S. is the most competitive economy in the world today as a result of pro-growth measures taken by President Trump, with lower taxes and deregulation and so forth," he said.
Like Mnuchin, Kudlow said he wants to see quick resolution to the differences and "not let let this meander and wander on forever and ever."
"All that needs to start fast, and we will be tracking it," he said. "We will be tracking it, because we have had promises in the past from China and the promises have not worked out."
Later in the day, Kudlow again stressed the importance of getting something done quickly.
"It's all going to be very fast. A lot of this is going to hinge on the speed of the Chinese commitments," he said during a conference all with reporters.