U.S., China make tough demands

Analysts predict hard bargaining ahead

BEIJING — Two days of inconclusive U.S.-China talks ended here Friday amid signs that the Trump administration is demanding dramatic concessions that challenge core elements of China’s economic system and its ambitions for future development.

China said “big differences” remained as a high-level U.S. government delegation headed home, although it said consensus had been reached on some issues.

Given China’s equally uncompromising stance, it was unclear where the two sides had found common ground. U.S. envoys are likely to have met stiff resistance, given their demands for fundamental revisions in how the Chinese leadership manages foreign trade and its domestic economy.

The demands included a $200 billion cut in the U.S. trade deficit with China by 2020.

Chinese negotiators presented their own hard-line terms for a reshaped trade relationship, demanding the United States drop a complaint over China’s licensing terms for foreign patent holders. Chinese negotiators also want the U.S. to designate China a market economy, which would give it easier treatment under routine U.S. trade enforcement actions.

With the U.S. team, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, en route to Washington, the White House released a statement calling the talks “frank.”

The meetings marked an attempt by the Trump administration to leverage changes from China without sparking a potentially disastrous trade war, after threatening to impose tariffs on up to $150 billion in Chinese imports.

The talks ended with no details on next steps.

But some analysts predicted tough bargaining in the weeks to come.

U.S. negotiators will brief President Donald Trump upon their return.

The Xinhua News Agency reported that the two sides agreed to establish a “working mechanism” to maintain close communication on the issues discussed in the talks.