Chinese, U.S. officials talking trade
Delegates hope to defuse tensions over technology
BEIJING — Chinese and U.S. officials met face-to-face Thursday in an attempt to resolve a dispute over technology that has taken the world’s two largest economies the closest they’ve ever come to a trade war.
A high-powered U.S. delegation arrived in Beijing for talks aimed at defusing the tensions, though analysts say they appear unlikely to yield a breakthrough given the two sides’ intensifying rivalry in strategic technologies.
Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin is leading the group, which includes Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Liu He, President Xi Jinping’s top economic adviser, headed the Chinese side in the talks, which are expected to end Friday.
The dispute has deepened as China has stepped up efforts to overtake Western industry leaders in advanced technologies, especially for semiconductors.
Under Xi, a program known as “Made in China 2025” aims to make China a tech superpower by advancing development of industries that, in addition to semiconductors, include artificial intelligence, pharmaceuticals and electric vehicles. The plan mostly involves subsidizing Chinese firms. But it also requires foreign companies to provide key details about their technologies to Chinese partners.
President Donald Trump is seeking to cut the chronic U.S. trade deficit by $100 billion and gain concessions over the policies that foreign companies say force them to share technology in order to gain market access.
His administration has threatened to impose new tariffs on roughly $150 billion in Chinese goods. That prompted China to announce its own tariffs on U.S. goods, and Beijing also looks unlikely to cede any ground on its strategic blueprint for technology.
Beijing has been backing up its towering ambitions in the semiconductor sector with money and tax breaks.
The government set up the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund in 2014, seeded with $22 billion in capital to invest in chip companies.
Trump said on Twitter at the start of the talks that he expected relations to stay on an even keel.
“Our great financial team is in China trying to negotiate a level playing field on trade!” he tweeted. “I look forward to being with President Xi in the not too distant future. We will always have a good (great) relationship!”