Trump keen for US-China ‘tariff war’ resolution
US TREASURY Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he was looking forward to trade talks with China, as discussions in Beijing moved to a higher level in a push to de-escalate a tariff war before a March 1 deadline for a deal.
The talks, scheduled to run until today, follow three days of deputy-level meetings to work out technical details, including a mechanism for enforcing any trade agreement.
He and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer opened the meetings shortly afterward at the Diaoyutai state guest house with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, the top economic adviser to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
US tariffs on $200 billion (R2.8 trillion) worth of imports from China are scheduled to rise to 25% from 10% if the two sides don’t reach a deal by the deadline, increasing pressure and costs in sectors from consumer electronics to agriculture.
US President Donald Trump said this week that the negotiations had been progressing “very well”.
Trump’s advisers have described March 1 as a “hard deadline”, and the president has said a delay was possible though he preferred not to do so.
A Bloomberg report cited sources saying Trump was considering pushing back the deadline by 60 days to give negotiators more time.
Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said he had no information on the trade talks’ progress, but would release information once there is any update.
Trump has said he did not expect to meet with Xi before March 1, but White House press secretary Sarah Sanders has raised the possibility of a meeting between the leaders at the president’s personal retreat at Mar-aLago in Florida.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she noted Trump had said many times he wished to meet Xi, and that China was willing to maintain a “close contact” with the US side, but said she had no information to share on any visit by Xi.
US Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Stephen Censky said on Wednesday that the two presidents were expected to meet “sometime in March”, but no dates were set.
The Chinese government has offered few details about the state of negotiations this week.
Chinese trade data released yesterday showed imports from the US fell 41.2% from a year earlier to $9.24 bn, the lowest amount in dollar terms since February 2016. Exports to the US also declined 2.4% to $36.54bn, the lowest amount since April 2018.
China’s trade surplus with the US narrowed to $27.3bn last month, from $29.87bn in December.
The US has used tariffs as leverage to demand Beijing make major structural policy changes, including ending the forced transfer of US technology, fully enforcing intellectual property rights, and curbing industrial subsidies.
But China has denied accusations of trade abuses. While Chinese officials have repeatedly pledged to improve market access for foreign investors, few experts expect Beijing to agree to anything that would force fundamental changes to what Washington complains is its state-led approach to trade.