China won’t make big concessions to the U.S. in order to seal a trade deal, former finance minister Lou Jiwei said, calling some U.S. demands for change "unreasonable."

“China’s concessions probably won’t be very big because a lot of their demands are what we already plan to reform,” Lou, who was finance minister until 2016 and now runs the social security fund, said. Some U.S. demands are “just nitpicking," he said.

China and the U.S. are nearing the finish line on a trade deal that could be signed by Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping as early as this month, though there is still a risk either side could walk away. The U.S. wants China follow through on pledges ranging from better protecting intellectual-property rights to buying more American products before Trump removes additional tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods.