SHANGHAI • US President Donald Trump said he thinks there will be "a great deal" with China on trade, but warned that he has billions of dollars worth of new tariffs ready to go if a deal is not possible.

"I think that we will make a great deal with China and it has to be great, because they've drained our country," he told Fox News Channel's The Ingraham Angle on Monday.

He said in the interview that he would like to make a deal now, but China was not ready. He did not elaborate.

Bloomberg news reported on Monday that Washington was preparing to announce tariffs on all remaining Chinese imports by early December if talks next month between Mr Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Mr Xi Jinping, fail to ease the trade war. Both leaders are expected to attend next month's Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires, where they could meet.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China and the United States have all along been in communication about exchanges at all levels, including a possible Xi-Trump meeting in Argentina, though he gave no details.

If the US is not willing to promote win-win cooperation with China, then China is fully confident in being able to continue with its reforms and develop itself, Mr Lu added.

The US has already imposed tariffs on US$250 billion (S$346 billion) worth of Chinese goods, and China has responded with retaliatory duties on US$110 billion worth of US goods.

"And I have US$267 billion waiting to go if we can't make a deal," Mr Trump said.

He has long threatened to impose tariffs on all remaining Chinese imports into the US if Beijing fails to meet US demands for sweeping changes to Chinese trade, technology transfer and industrial subsidy policies.

REUTERS