U.S. strikes aggressive trade stance with China

Trump wants to cut deficit by end of 2020 by $200B

BEIJING — The Trump administration has asked China to reduce its trade deficit with the U.S. by $200 billion by the end of 2020, striking an assertive stance in talks aimed at averting a trade war between the world’s twolargest economies.

A U.S. official confirmed the authenticity of a document making that and other requests that was presented to China ahead of two days of trade talks that ended Friday.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidential nature of the talks.

President Donald Trump had said he wanted Beijing to cut by $100 billion the chronic U.S. trade deficit that Washington says stood at a record $375.2 billion last year.

After the talks wrapped up, the Commerce Ministry said the two sides had agreed to set up a mechanism to try to work through their dispute, though differences remained, Chinese state media reported.

The report did not give specifics, suggesting little progress had been made.

The U.S. document is described in an introductory disclaimer as being provided to the Chinese ahead of the visit to Beijing by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other U.S. officials this week.

It also included demands that China 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 says.

The U.S. wants China not to retaliate against U.S. measures being pursued against it. 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.

Analysts said the Chinese were likely to view the aggressive posture struck by the U.S. as unreasonable and akin to bullying, potentially making it difficult to tone down friction over such issues.

Yu Miaojie, professor at Peking University’s National School of Development, described some of the demands as “like lions opening their mouths.”

“When it comes to negotiations, both sides can provide a list of requests, and we will seek common ground while reserving our differences,” Yu said. “If one side provides a list with unreasonable requests, the Chinese government is unable to accept it.”

The list was widely circulated on Chinese social media platforms Friday, drawing hundreds of comments from Chinese internet users criticizing the U.S.

“China won’t be frightened by this kind of threat,” wrote Hu Xijin, the chief editor of the Global Times, a nationalistic tabloid affiliated with the Communist Party mouthpiece, in a post on the Sina Weibo website.

Hu said he thought China would engage in talks seriously but also be fully prepared for them to fail.

“China will never trade off its core interests,” Hu wrote.

Still, the list was welcomed by a U.S. business group that has lobbied the Trump administration for greater clarity on what it wanted China to do.

“We’ve been saying that the Trump administration needs to define success and what specific outcomes it is seeking,” said Jake Parker, vice president for China of the U.S.-China Business Council.

The list submitted to China helps “lead to a solution and avoid tariffs and other sanctions.”

China’s Commerce Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the U.S. demands and did not refer to them in the remarks released by state media Friday.

The two sides “reached consensus in some areas,” the official Xinhua News Agency said. “Both sides realized that there are still relatively big differences over some issues and that they need to continue to work hard to make more improvements,” the report said.