U.S. President Trump holds a press conference in Britain. AFP Yonhap News. 

U.S. President Donald Trump said on the 18th (local time) that trade talks with China are nearing a deal and reiterated his stance to continue the tariff "truce" between the two countries.

Speaking at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Buckinghamshire during his visit to Britain, President Trump said, "We are very close to an agreement (between the U.S. and China)."

He added, "We may extend (the suspension of high tariffs on China), but it would be an extension based on the current conditions. They are very good conditions."

The United States and China, after engaging in a tariff "war," agreed in their first trade talks held in Geneva, Switzerland, in May to lower their respective tariff rates by 115 percentage points each. Since then, they have continued negotiations by extending this agreement by 90 days.

The tariff suspension agreement is scheduled to end on November 10th, and he has expressed his intention to extend the suspension even if negotiations with China are not completed by then.

Regarding the TikTok deal with China, President Trump stated, "The United States is receiving a huge additional fee. I call this a fee for just closing the deal."

The U.S. and China have fundamentally agreed on a plan for U.S. companies to acquire a controlling stake in TikTok, a video platform owned by China's ByteDance. President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are scheduled to speak by phone on the 19th to finalize this.

To secure time to finalize the TikTok sale, President Trump signed an executive order on the 16th extending the grace period for the "TikTok ban" until December 16th.

While the specifics of the TikTok agreement have not been disclosed, foreign media have reported that a consortium of U.S. investors, including Oracle, would establish a company holding approximately 80% of the shares to acquire TikTok's U.S. business rights, and that the company would be managed by a U.S.-led board of directors, including one person designated by the U.S. government.

President Trump said, "It will be owned by investors who are all Americans," adding, "Very upright and very legitimate companies, companies that truly love America, will own TikTok."

Yonhap News