China is out-negotiating Trump on trade: Rubio

US Republican Senator and former presidential candidate Marco Rubio has said that China appeared to be "out-negotiating" the administration of President Donald Trump and winning the trade talks.

In a message on his Twitter on Tuesday, Rubio argued that Beijing had secured concessions from the United States "without giving up anything meaningful in return."

"Sadly #China is out-negotiating the administration & winning the trade talks right now," Rubio tweeted. "They have avoided tariffs & got a #ZTE deal without giving up anything meaningful in return by using N.Korea talks & agriculture issues as leverage. This is #NotWinning."

The Trump administration has decided not to impose tariffs of $150 billion in Chinese products, after China promised it would buy more American agricultural and energy products.

On Sunday, Beijing and Washington said they had agreed stop imposing heavy tariffs as punitive measures against each other in a bid to push back the possibility of a trade war.

The agreement came after delegations led by US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and China’s State Council Vice Premier Liu He wrapped up high-level talks between in Washington.

“There was a consensus on taking effective measures to substantially reduce the United States’ trade deficit in goods with China,” a joint statement read.

“To meet the growing consumption needs of the Chinese people and the need for high-quality economic development, China will significantly increase purchases of United States goods and services.”

PressTV-US, China agree to end trade war

The United States and China agree to end a trade war and stop imposing tariffs on each other, Chinese and US official says.

Washington and Beijing also highly valued intellectual property protection and agreed to promote cooperation in this regard, according to the statement.

Trump initiated what is effectively a trade war with China last month when he announced unusually high tariffs on Chinese aluminum and steel imports. Beijing repeatedly cautioned against such a war but then took retaliatory action.

Several rounds of tit-for-tat measures were introduced before the two sides agreed to negotiate to resolve the matter.

Trump was ‘played’ by Chinese president

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said on Tuesday that China’s President Xi Jinping "played" President Trump in recent bilateral trade, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The two leaders reportedly agreed to an informal deal to lift sanctions from Chinese phone manufacturer ZTE, and sources familiar with the talks told the Journal that the possible deal would include the administration removing the current ban on American companies selling phone components to ZTE.

"If these reports are true, the fines and board changes will do nothing to protect American national or economic security and are simply a diversion from the fact that we have lost," Schumer said in a statement. "President Xi has played President Trump and Secretary Mnuchin."

Mnuchin has defended Trump for saying he wanted to get ZTE "back into business, fast."

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