US and China push for summit meet in late April

WASHINGTON: The US and China are pushing for a summit meeting in late April to complete a trade deal, while negotiators are still grappling over its terms and how they should be enforced.

Although much remains unsettled, one thing is becoming clear: The Trump administration will continue to hold the threat of tariffs over Beijing to ensure that it lives up to whatever commitments it agrees to in the final deal. That approach is prompting concern among American businesses that the economic damage and uncertainty caused by US President Donald Trump’s trade war could persist even once negotiations are resolved.

On Friday, a report commissioned by the nation’s biggest business lobbying group showed that the Trump administration’s tariffs are actually damaging an industry the l e v i e s were intended to protect. The report, by the US chamber of commerce and the Rhodium Group, a research firm, said that Trump’s tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods were eroding the competitiveness of the US information technology sector— including companies that manufacture computers, electronics and telecom equipment, as well as provide services like cloud computing, computer-aided design and customer relations.

The report estimated that the tariffs, if they remain in place, would reduce US gross domestic product by at least $1 trillion within 10 years. US GDP was about $20.5 trillion in 2018.

The business community, along with both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, have been critical of Trump’s tariffs but they have been willing to carry the costs of Trump’s trade war if it brings about needed change. Executives across industries say they support efforts by Trump to reset an economic relationship that has too often put US companies and workers at a disadvantage.

“There’s no cheap way to pursue these kinds of policy objectives,” said Daniel Rosen, a founding partner of the Rhodium Group.