Tensions, doubt hang over trade talks
BEIJING — American officials are due in Beijing on Monday for talks aimed at easing the U.s.-china trade battle that threatens to hobble global economic growth.
The talks are going ahead despite tension over the arrest of a Chinese tech executive in Canada on U.S. charges related to possible violations of trade sanctions on Iran.
The two governments have expressed interest in a settlement but have given no indication that their stances have shifted. After several tit-for-tat tariff increases last year, Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed Dec. 1 to postpone further hikes.
The two countries hope to have “positive and constructive discussions,” said a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Lu Kang.
The trade war has its roots in American anxiety about China’s emergence as a competitor in telecoms, solar power and other technologies and complaints by Washington, Europe and other trading partners that Beijing’s tactics violate its market-opening obligations.
China’s leaders have offered to narrow its politically sensitive trade surplus with the United States by purchasing more soybeans, natural gas and other American exports. But they reject pressure to scrap technology initiatives they see as a path to prosperity and global influence.
Both governments face economic pressure to reach a settlement.
Chinese economic growth fell to a post-global crisis low of 6.5 percent in the quarter ending in September. Auto sales tumbled 16 percent in November over a year earlier and weak real estate sales are forcing developers to cut prices.
Third-quarter U.S. growth was 3.4 percent and unemployment is at a five-decade low. But surveys show consumer confidence is weakening due to concern that growth will moderate this year.
Trump and Xi agreed to a 90-day postponement of more tariff increases due to take effect Jan. 1. But economists say that is too little time to resolve the sprawling disputes that bedevil U.S.Chinese relations.
The decision to hold this week’s talks at a deputy minister level reflects the need to work out technical details before higher-level officials make “hard political decisions on major issues,” said Tu Xinquan, director of the China Institute for World Trade Organization Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.