WASHINGTON, April 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Donald Trump on Thursday said the United States and China were a month from a potentially “epic” trade agreement.
But, nine months into the two countries’ trade war, the announcement was
anti-climactic, as the White House had earlier stoked anticipation that Trump could announce a date for a summit to clinch a final deal with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
Global markets had also rallied in recent days, roused by the hope that an
end to the skirmish between the world’s two top economies was at last at
hand.
“We will probably know over the next four weeks. It may take two weeks
after that,” Trump told reporters following a meeting with Beijing’s trade
envoy Liu He.
“It’s looking very good.”
The talks are due to continue for a third day on Friday. Trump had said as
far back as February that a summit could occur within a month.
Despite Trump’s rosy gloss on the talks on Thursday, US Trade
Representative Robert Lighthizer told reporters that major issues were left
to be resolved.
Both US and Chinese officials have projected cautious optimism for months,
but the last mile is proving to be the hardest, with the two sides reportedly
tussling over whether and when Washington should remove the punishing tariffs it imposed last year on Chinese goods.
Trump in early 2018 launched a trade war with China, seeking to slash that
country’s soaring trade surplus with the United States, end alleged unfair
trade practices such as the theft of American technology and China’s massive state intervention in markets.
Washington and Beijing since last year have imposed tariffs on more than
$360 billion in two-way trade, biting into their manufacturing sectors as the
world economy slows.
China has floated offers to make sizable purchases of US commodities and
taken steps to show it will protect foreign intellectual property.
But Democrats have warned of the temptation to accept a superficial deal
that does not extract profound changes to the Chinese industrial policies
American officials have long denounced.
Trump reiterated Thursday however that, “if it’s not a great deal, we’re
not doing it.”
Chinese state media later carried a report which said Xi has called for the
talks to conclude as soon as possible.
“I hope the two sides of the economic and trade teams will continue to
resolve both sides’ issues of concern in the spirit of mutual respect,
equality, and mutual benefit, and finish negotiations on the China-US
economic and trade agreement document as soon as possible,” Xinhua quoted Liu as saying, as he conveyed a message from Xi to Trump.
A final sticking point appears to be when and how Washington will agree to
lift the steep tariffs it has placed on more than $250 billion in Chinese
imports.
Last month, Trump said the tariffs would stay in place for “a substantial
period,” although whether this would apply to both tranches of goods
subjected to the new duties was unclear.
US officials demand that any agreement have teeth and Lighthizer, the US
trade representative, has said tariffs offer crucial leverage should Beijing
backslide on its commitments. — NNN-AGENCIES
