Chinese exports to the U.S. have tumbled as President Trump’s tariffs take hold. Beijing’s exports to the U.S. fell 22 percent in September with total exports falling 3.2 percent. Imports also fell sharply and are down 8.5 percent from September 2018.

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The drop in trade activity was steeper than economists had predicted as the ongoing trade war with the U.S. continues to hit China’s economy. The two sides agreed to a “phase one” deal last week with President Trump agreeing to delay a tariff increase that was set to go into effect Tuesday.

According to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin “substantial progress” has been made toward making a partial trade deal with China.

“There is a phase one deal, we have an agreement in principle,” he explained. “This is like when you buy a building, you’ve reached an agreement to buy a building, and now you’ve got to negotiate the contract.”

While speaking to reporters Monday morning, Mnuchin dismissed speculation that an actual deal could be pushed back until after next month’s APEC summit.

“Well, again, there’s execution work to be done on the document, but this document is substantially done,” he stated. “We made a lot of progress and our expectation is this will be concluded and signed by Chile.”

The treasury secretary also said U.S. and Chinese negotiators addressed “significant structural issues” in their tentative deal, which will result in China lifting tariffs on U.S. agricultural products and purchasing up to $50 billion of those goods. Mnuchin then touched on the enforcement measures included in that agreement, which would include both sides setting up offices to handle any discrepancies.

Mnuchin said if the “phase one” deal is not closed in the coming weeks, the White House will move forward with another round of tariffs. In order to make a deal happen, he signaled his willingness to hold more talks with Chinese negotiators to tie up any loose ends.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s deputy level meetings in person,” he stated. “I think our expectation is we’ll meet with the vice premier in Chile before the presidents meet to make sure there aren’t any final issues, and if we need to have in-person meetings, more in-person meetings to get this done, obviously we’ll do that.”

President Trump is expected to meet with his Chinese counterpart next month to finalize the agreement.

(Excerpt from One America News Network.)