US President Donald Trump on Friday would not predict that a trade deal with China will be reached, even though talks are moving very well along with China.

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Trump spoke to reporters at the White House after an intense round of trade talks in Washington to hammer out an agreement on remaining issues to end a months-long trade war that has rattled global markets.

US Fed To Lower Interest Rates

Trump said the US Federal Reserve should lower interest rates, noting that newly released jobs numbers showed the economy had performed well but adding that action by the central bank had really slowed down the economy.

The Fed raised interest rates four times last year, and Trump has been a vocal and strident critic of the rate hikes under Jerome Powell, whom the president picked two years ago to chair the US central bank. Trump's other Fed appointees have also supported the rate hikes.

On Thursday, Trump said he plans to nominate his political ally Herman Cain, the former head of Godfather's Pizza, to one of two vacancies on the Fed's seven-member Board of Governors.

Two weeks ago, Trump said he would nominate conservative economic commentator Stephen Moore to the other vacant seat on the Fed's board. Moore is also a longtime Trump ally who has joined him in criticizing last year's rate hikes.

White House Correspondents Dinner

Trump said he will not attend the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents Association once again, calling the event too negative.

It will be the third year in a row that the president has taken a pass on the dinner, to be held on April 27 at a Washington hotel.

Trump has had a rocky relationship with the White House press corps, which he frequently accuses of being biased. Still, he takes questions from reporters nearly every day.

He told reporters on the White House South Lawn that he would hold a political rally instead of going to the dinner.

"I’m going to hold a rally, because the dinner is so boring and so negative that we’re going to hold a very positive rally," he said.

He said the rally would be at one of three sites being considered.

"It'll be a big one, but the correspondents dinner is too negative. I like positive things," he said.