What each side wants in trade war

WASHINGTON» The Americans want to safeguard their technological riches, restore balance to their top trading relationship and force a sharp-elbowed rival to play by the rules and keep its word.

The Chinese want the Trump administration to drop its tariffs so they can regain freer access to the world’s largest consumer market while pursuing their goal of becoming a global technology superpower.

It would be hard to overstate what’s at stake as Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping meet Saturday at a Group of Twenty summit in Osaka, Japan, to seek a truce in their trade war and revive negotiations between the world’s two largest economies.

Here is a look at what each side wants:

China

Chinese officials have said they want to revive negotiations with the Trump administration. Yet they have given no indication that Xi plans to propose any new initiatives or offer fresh concessions when he meets Trump.

As a condition of any settlement, Beijing has demanded that Trump lift all the punitive tariffs he has imposed on Chinese products. That might be next to impossible.

Even if a significant agreement can be reached, U.S. negotiators want to keep in place at least some of their import taxes to ensure that Beijing fulfills whatever steps it agrees to.

“Any deal would need the U.S. to roll back its tariffs, which doesn’t seem to be on the table,” said Mark Williams of Capital Economics.

Beijing denies the allegations that it steals U.S. companies’ intellectual property and forces them to hand over proprietary technology. And Chinese officials have vowed to resist anything that strikes them as a one-sided agreement.

Beijing has complained that Trump’s trade war is designed mainly to suppress a rising global competitor so the U.S. can maintain its technological dominance.

Beijing might prove reluctant to take any major steps — such as reducing government subsidies to Chinese companies — that could threaten its ambition to turn its companies into world leaders in such advanced technologies as artificial intelligence and autonomous cars.

United States

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross this week laid out three priorities for the Trump administration in its talks with Beijing.

The administration wants China to commit to more purchases of U.S. exports, including such things as soybeans and liquefied natural gas.

Then Trump officials want China to end what they call its abusive practices, including forced technology handovers and the use of regulations to hobble American companies operating in China.

Most and “hardest” of all, Ross said, is devising ways to ensure that China honors whatever commitments it makes.

That’s why the administration is eager to retain some of the Trump tariffs, which could be lifted gradually as Beijing proves its sincerity.

After all, Trump officials argue, China has made empty promises before: A 2018 report by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative found that Beijing promised eight times since 2010 not to force foreign companies to transfer technology to China. Yet the coercion continued, the U.S. said.

China’s reluctance to reform its ways has cost it a key ally in the United States: American businesses. U.S. companies, which long backed China-friendly U.S. trade policies, now largely support Trump’s combative stance, if not the tariffs he’s using as leverage.