The United States and China will eventually negotiate a trade deal, but it won't be finalized at the upcoming G-20 summit, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Tuesday.
"Eventually, this will end in negotiation," Ross told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "Even shooting wars end in negotiations."
Meanwhile, he said, President Donald Trump is "exactly right" with his assessment on China, as the United States will either collect "more and more tariffs on more and more products" or an arrangement will be reached to deal with the current situation and "more importantly" issues such as intellectual property rights and forced technology transfers.
Ross, though, warned that extensive trade deals are not made at summits like the G-20 and that any talks between Trump and China's President Xi Jinping would lay the groundwork for an agreement, rather than the two men reaching a pact at the event itself.
Meanwhile, Ross urged investors to use caution while the talks are continuing.
"When we were having this with Mexico, people were getting hysterical," said Ross. "Now we have a resolution that appears likely to help solve the border crisis, and also did not involve big tariffs."
Former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, a guest host on the morning show, commented that the United States has been at a nonstop war for some time, but Ross said he doesn't anticipate there will be a constant trade war, as there are several trade agreements on the table, including the USMCA deal with Mexico and Canada.
"Look at the results," he said. "Don't get too obsessed with the in-between details. Those are just a road stop along the highway to success."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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