By Rebecca Ballhaus 

WASHINGTON -- President Trump said Wednesday that his administration was discussing leaving tariffs in place on Chinese goods for a "substantial period of time."

Speaking to reporters as he left Washington for Ohio, Mr. Trump said he was not considering removing tariffs on China.

"We have to make sure that if we do the deal with China, that China lives by the deal," he said. "Because they've had a lot of problems living by certain deals, and we have to make sure."

The U.S. has levied tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods, covering about half the value of Chinese exports to the U.S. Beijing has retaliated with tariffs on $110 billion of U.S. goods, about 90% of U.S. exports to China.

Mr. Trump added that the deal was "coming along nicely" but that the U.S. was taking in "billions and billions" from tariffs. "For a period of time, that will stay," he said.

Negotiators for the U.S. and China have scheduled a new round of high-level trade talks in Beijing and Washington, aiming to close a deal by late April to end their yearlong dispute.

Write to Rebecca Ballhaus at Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 20, 2019 13:26 ET (17:26 GMT)