US trade representative hopeful of easing tensions with China

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer expressed hope on Wednesday for the United States and China to find a way to ease the current tensions caused by recently announced tariffs.

US President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on March 22 to impose tariffs on up to $50 billion in imports from China annually, citing Section 301 of Trade Act of 1974, for an investigation on China’s intellectual property policies and practices.

The move came just a day before the US imposed a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports under Section 232 of Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

China protested the US actions. In response to the steel tariffs imposed in the name of national security, China announced last Friday a list of 128 US products, worth $3 billion, that are subject to new tariffs, a safeguard measure permitted by the World Trade Organization. The products include fruit, wine, pork and steel pipes from the US.

Speaking on CNBC on Wednesday, Lighthizer described the US-China relationship as “very important. China is a significant trade relationship and a geopolitical relationship.”

He said the two countries have “very different systems” and “there is going to be a certain amount of tensions between the two”.

“Yes. I think there is hope,” Lighthizer said when asked by CNBC anchor Joe Kernen about what the chances are of a deal with China over the much criticized US tariffs and approach.

Lighthizer expressed that the list of Chinese exports subjected to the Section 301 tariffs are “largely technology things” and will be announced “before very long”.

But he said they will go through a 60-day period during which the public will comment on the “good and bad things in there”.

China has long called on the US to resolve bilateral trade issues through negotiations and vowed to defend its own legitimate interests.

Both sides have indicated the willingness for negotiations in recent days.

Trump’s recent tariffs have triggered widespread concern in the world and among the US public about retaliation from China and other US trade partners.

A CNN poll published on Tuesday showed that 50 percent of Americans nationwide disapproved of Trump’s trade policies while 38 percent approve of them.

US farmers, many of whom voted for Trump during the 2016 presidential election, are worried that they will be the first to suffer from foreign retaliation.

Casey Guernsey, a seventhgeneration farmer and former Missouri state legislator, said, “President Trump’s tariffs have put a bull’s-eye on the back of rural families across the country.

“While we need to negotiate for better deals, let’s not put farmers and their families at risk,” he said on Wednesday.