Yahoo Finance

(Bloomberg) -- Supply Lines is a daily newsletter that tracks global trade. Sign up here.

Most Read from Bloomberg

• The Battle Over the Fate of Detroit’s Renaissance Center

• NYC Real Estate Industry Asks Judge to Block New Broker Fee Law

• NJ Transit Strike Would Be ‘Disaster’ for Region, Sherrill Says

• NJ Transit Urges Commuters to Work Remotely If Union Strikes

• Iceland Plans for a More Volcanic Future

President Donald Trump suggested that his administration could strike trade deals with some countries as soon as this week, offering the prospect of relief for trading partners seeking to avoid higher US import duties.

“It could very well be,” Trump told reporters on Sunday when asked whether any trade agreements were coming this week. He didn’t specify any countries.

Subscribe to the Bloomberg Daybreak Podcast on Apple, Spotify and other Podcast Platforms.

“We’re negotiating with many countries, but at the end of this, I’ll set my own deals — because I set the deal, they don’t set the deal,” Trump said aboard Air Force One. “You keep asking the same question: ‘When will you agree?’ It’s up to me, it’s not up to them.”

Trump also signaled that his aides are having conversations with counterparts from China. Financial markets have steadied in the past two weeks amid signs that talks with Asian nations are progressing and trade tensions between China and the US could ratchet down from current levels.

China has been the focus of Trump’s tariff campaign, leading Beijing to retaliate against US levies, which now run as high as 145% on Chinese goods. China has been hinting at a possible thaw in recent days, while Trump told NBC News in comments broadcast Sunday that he’s willing to lower US tariffs at some point.

In response to a question on Air Force One, Trump said he has no current plans to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Beijing confirmed last week for the first time that its authorities are in communication with American officials over trade deals. Discussions have already been underway with Trump’s aides and multiple other countries, but top officials continue to signal that they ultimately they may still intend to impose duties on trading partners.

“At a certain point, I’ll be just setting a certain tariff number,” Trump said Sunday. “At some point in the next two weeks or three weeks, I’m going to be setting the deal.”

“I’m going to say that such and such a country has had a tremendous trade surplus — surplus their way — with us and they’ve taken advantage of us in various ways, and we fully understand what they were doing,” he said.