Report: Trump officials asked China to cut deficit by $100 billion

The Trump administration has asked China for a plan to reduce the bilateral trade deficit by $100 billion — not $1 billion as President Trump tweeted Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The details: It makes much more sense to cut $100 billion from a $375.2 billion deficit than to cut $1 billion. Liu He, President Xi Jinping's top economic deputy who was in Washington last week, reportedly told U.S. officials that it's in China's interest to reduce the trade deficit as it moves away from export-led growth. [Go deeper: The scale of the U.S.-China trade deficit.]