Washington, Aug 11 (IANS): US President Donald Trump has said that China is rooting for a Democrat to win the 2020 presidential election in a bid to reach a trade deal with the US.

Trump took to Twitter and accused China of looting US of "hundreds of billions" of dollars.

"China wants to make a deal so badly. Thousands of companies are leaving because of the Tariffs, they must stem the flow. At the same time China may be hoping for a Democrat to win so they could continue the great ripoff of America & the theft of hundreds of Billions of $'s," Trump tweeted.

His statement came a day after he said that US was not ready to make a trade agreement with China.

"We're talking with China. We're not ready to make a deal, but we'll see what happens," Trump told reporters on Friday.

Trade tensions between Washington and Beijing are rooted in Washington's unhappiness over China's massive trade surpluses with the US, Efe news reported.

In 2018, the US posted a trade deficit of $419 billion with China due, largely, to the fact that American exports to Asia's largest economy totalled just $120 billion, while US imports from China reached $540 billion.

During the first five months of 2019, the US trade deficit with China was $137 billion.