Some indications coming out of China have been "a little more positive" than they were before talks fell apart, White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said Monday.
"We were pretty close, or closer, maybe 90% home last May and then the talks fell apart," Kudlow told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "Then the Chinese pulled back. That was the most disappointing. The president was dissatisfied with that part of the process."
However, in recent months, China has been buying agriculture commodities from the United States, including soybeans, port, wheat, and other items, said Kudlow, and "that's a good sign" heading into new talks this weekend.
Meanwhile, Kudlow said he does not want to make a prediction on the U.S. markets at this time after the Stock Market marked three weeks of decline.
"The U.S. economy is in pretty good shape," said Kudlow. "We had a big jobs number, 181,000 with revisions on the payrolls. Households were close to 400,000. Those are great numbers, and 3 1/2% unemployment rate is a 50-year low."
He added that the increases are not only helping people in the top rung of the income ladder, but people are "prospering across the board" with President Donald Trump's tax cuts.
"The president has spoken to the leaders at the U.N., and the g-7 and so forth. 'Why don't you folks cut taxes and roll back regulations and open up your energy sector as we have and help us in the effort to lower trading barriers?'" he said. "'I need the rest of the world to pick up their game.' So far they haven't."