Remarks to Reporters After Signing the United States-China Phase One Trade Agreement

The President. So you have Steve Schwarzman, you have Nelson Peltz, and they will comment a little bit on the—how about my life?

Trian Fund Management, L.P., Chief Executive Officer and Founding Partner Nelson Peltz. Unbelievable.

The President. And we just found this group.

Mr. Peltz. These are your friends, right? [Laughter]

The President. So the great Steve Schwarzman, the great Nelson Peltz, they're going to comment on the deal with China. We're then going and having a little lunch, and you're going to be invited in. But you may take some questions.

Okay, Steve? We'll see you in a little while. Thank you.

Blackstone Group Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and Cofounder Stephen A. Schwarzman. I think the new U.S.-China trade agreement is a very important thing. It opens the door to future improvements and helps effect changing the nature of the relationship between the two countries. So it's a very important day. Both countries are enthusiastic about it. Thank you.

Mr. Peltz. World-shaking event today. Really, never would I have ever imagined that we could ever do something like this and keep the tariffs in place at the same time. But it's also very important because it's a major step for world peace. Thank you very much.

Hudson Institute Center for Chinese Strategy Director and Senior Fellow and Michael Pillsbury. Hi, Jeff [Jeff Mason, Reuters]. I'm Michael Pillsbury. I just wanted to say, the President today went around to everybody in the room—Senators, Congressmen, business representatives; quite a few companies were here—and he singled out each person for their contribution and how the new trade agreement will help each one of them. So I was very impressed.

The Chinese comment was, this is a historical intersection or a crossroads. And the Chinese commentary is really focused on the global importance for both global prosperity and global peace, the Chinese side said, coming out of the trade agreement.

So the implications of this agreement—I, as an outside adviser from Hudson Institute—the implications are being brought up by the Chinese as global, not a mere short-term or narrow trade agreement.

So thank you very much. And I want to single out the Jeff Mason coverage of the U.S.-China trade talks, along with Bob Davis [Wall Street Journal] and Ana Swanson [New York Times], as really quite accurate over these last 18 months. Thanks.

Q. Thank you, sir.