Trade deal with China still 'possible,' Trump says

President Donald Trump on Thursday held out hopes of salvaging a trade deal with China, just hours before Beijing's negotiators were due to return to the bargaining table amid a sudden flare-up in hostilities.

With punishing US tariffs on hundreds of billions in Chinese merchandise due to jump after midnight, Trump told reporters he had received a letter from his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, and would likely speak to him by telephone later.

"It's possible to do it," Trump said of the trade deal at the White House. "I did get last night a very beautiful letter from President Xi." But Trump warned he was also more than happy to use tariffs in resolving his differences with China.

"I am different than a lot of people. I happen to think that tariffs, for our country, are very powerful."
"The Chinese side has kept its promises and this has never changed," he added, without specifying what measures Beijing would take but warning that it "has already prepared for all possible situations."
"But what China is willing to acknowledge in public is less than it is willing to acknowledge in private."
Kennedy warned that the "possibilities for miscalculation on both sides is pretty high."