By Josh Zumbrun and Catherine Lucey 

President Trump said that he is no longer thinking about negotiating a phase-two trade deal with China, saying the relationship between the countries has been badly damaged by the coronavirus pandemic.

When the U.S. and China signed their trade deal in January, the two sides described the pact as a phase-one agreement, which would lead to an even more expansive deal in a second, and possibly third, phase of negotiations.

"I don't think about it now," the president told reporters on Air Force One when asked if a phase-two deal was still on the table.

The "relationship with China has been severely damaged," he said. "They could have stopped the plague, they could have stopped it, they didn't stop it. They stopped it from going into the remaining portions of China from Wuhan province. They could have stopped the plague, they didn't," he said.

Beginning in 2018, U.S. and Chinese negotiators had initially focused on a comprehensive deal But talks fell apart in May of 2019, resulting in an escalation of tariffs. When negotiators revived talks in the fall, they focused on a narrower set of issues.

The U.S. had said it would wait for future phases to negotiate on some of the most difficult issues -- such as Beijing's pressure on American businesses to share technology with Chinese partners and China's subsidization of many of its domestic companies.

Because these issues were more difficult to negotiate, many analysts doubted the U.S. and China would ever achieve a second-phase agreement.

Write to Josh Zumbrun at Josh.Zumbrun@wsj.com and Catherine Lucey at catherine.lucey@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 10, 2020 13:23 ET (17:23 GMT)

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