Trump: Wall Street Journal story on China trade deal 'completely wrong'

[WASHINGTON] President Donald Trump on Friday said a Wall Street Journal story on a US trade deal with China is completely wrong.

"The Wall Street Journal story on the China Deal is completely wrong, especially their statement on Tariffs," Mr Trump wrote in a tweet, offering no specifics and not indicating which story he meant.

It was earlier reported that the White House had reached a "deal in principle" with Beijing on trade, sources briefed on the talks said on Thursday, but it may be narrower than the "Phase 1" deal US President Donald Trump promised in October.

In the current deal, the United States would suspend tariffs expected to go into effect on US$160 billion in Chinese goods, and Beijing has promised to buy more US agricultural goods, Bloomberg reported, without further details.

One former senior trade negotiator said the devil was in the details of the written agreement, which is still being worked out. "In trade negotiations, written text is important since that's where a lot of the lingering disagreements tend to resurface."

Mr Trump has signed off on the deal, and a White House announcement could come shortly, one source said.

REUTERS