China gets tariff delay but won’t scrap tech

Beijing sees technology as path to prosperity and influence

BEIJING >> Buy more U.S. exports? Done. Tinker with technology tactics that irk Washington and other trading partners? Maybe. But scrap those plans, seen by Beijing as a path to prosperity and influence? Probably never.

The agreement by President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on a cease fire on tariffs postpones the threat of more disruption for China’s exporters and their Asian suppliers. Some economists said Xi might be ready to negotiate in earnest.

Still, Beijing gave no sign of a changed stance on technology ambitions that Washington says violate Chinese market-opening obligations and might threaten U.S. industrial leadership.

Trump’s complaints strike at the heart of the ruling Communist Party’s state-led economic model and plans to restore China to its rightful place as a political and culture leader by creating global champions in robotics and other fields.

“It’s impossible for China to cancel its industry policies or major industry and technology development plans,” said economist Cui Fan of the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

At his weekend meeting with Xi in Argentina, Trump agreed to postpone planned U.S. tariff hikes on Chinese imports by 90 days while the two sides negotiate. The 90-day clock starts January 1. Xi revived promises to narrow China’s multibillion-dollar trade surplus with the United States by purchasing more American exports.

The outcome was “as good as we could have expected,” the chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, William Zarit, said in a statement.

Also late Sunday, Trump said on Twitter that Beijing agreed to cut import duties on U.S. autos. There was no Chinese confirmation of the move, which would have little impact on trade because most American vehicles sold in China are made here.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters at the White House Monday that there was an “an immediate focus on reducing auto tariffs,” though he did not provide details or timing. Asked if there was a specific agreement to remove the tariffs, he said: “Yes, there was.”

Yet Larry Kudlow, the top White House economic adviser, later Monday said that “We don’t yet have a specific agreement on that,” referring to the auto tariffs.

“But I will just tell you as an involved participant we expect those tariffs to go to zero,” Kudlow added in a conference call with reporters.

Mnuchin stressed that the two leaders had detailed conversations on 142 items and said the goal now was to turn the talks into a “real agreement.” He said both leaders had extended invitations to visit their respective countries and said he expects them to meet in the “near future.”

Investors were pleased by the news. The Dow Jones industrial average surged 320 points in later afternoon trading.

Trump’s promise gives Xi political room to negotiate after Beijing said earlier talks were impossible while Washington “holds a knife” of tariff threats to China’s throat. But both leaders face a mix of economic nationalists, free trade advocates and other conflicting forces at home.

The outcome wasn’t the result of a “significant change” by China, Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics said in a report. Washington instead chose to see Beijing’s argument that it already is making changes “in a more positive light.”

PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE U.S. President Donald Trump, second right, and China’s President Xi Jinping, second left, attend their bilateral meeting at the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A U.S.-Chinese cease fire on tariffs gives jittery companies a respite but does little to resolve a war over Beijing’s technology ambitions that threatens to chill global economic growth.