U. S. demands make China trade resolution tougher

BEIJING — A list of hard- line demands that the Trump administration handed China this week could make it evenmore difficult to resolve a trade conflict between the world’s two largest economies.

That’s the view of trade analysts who say the U. S. insistence that Beijing shrink America’s gaping trade deficit with China by $ 200 billion by the end of 2020, among other demands, are more likely to raise tensions.

AU. S. official confirmed the authenticity of a document outlining U. S. priorities that was presented to China ahead of two days of trade talks that ended Friday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

In Washington on Friday, President Donald Trump said, “We have to bring fairness in trade between the U. S. and China, and we will do that.” Trump had campaigned for the presidency on a promise to reduce America’s trade deficit with China, which amounted last year to $ 337 billion in goods and services.

The U. S. document is described, in an introductory disclaimer, as being provided to the Chinese ahead of the visit to Beijing by the U. S. officials. It included demands that China immediately stop providing subsidies to industries listed in a key industrial plan. China must end some of its policies related to technology transfers, a key source of tension underlying the dispute, the list also says.

The U. S. wants China not to retaliate against U. S. measures currently being pursued against it. For instance, the U. S. says China should agree not to target U. S. farmers or agricultural products and “not oppose, challenge or otherwise retaliate” when the U. S. moves to restrict Chinese investment in the U. S. in sensitive sectors.

American analysts were struck by the aggressiveness of the Trump team’s demands. Eswar Prasad, a professor of trade policy at Cornell University, said the hard- nosed approach “makes it harder to envision a path toward a negotiated settlement.”