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China, US showdown looms on trade at fractious G20
BUENOS AIRES, Dec 1, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The United States and China, the
world’s two largest economies, will see Saturday if they can find a
breakthrough to exit a spiraling trade war as their presidents meet at a
tense G20 summit.
With markets watching nervously, US President Donald Trump has described
the Buenos Aires summit of the 20 leading economic powers as a deadline for
China to meet his demands or risk even further pressure.
The summit itself, with leaders from France, Russia and Saudi Arabia among
those attending, has been struggling to carve out any accord on fighting
climate change while hot-button disputes such as Ukraine loom large.
Trump, who has already slapped $250 billion in tariffs on China, sounded
upbeat about making progress with his counterpart Xi Jinping after weeks of
dire warnings.
“We’re working very hard. If we could make a deal, that would be good,”
Trump told reporters Friday as he met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on
the first of the summit’s two days.
“I think they want to, and I think we’d like to. And we’ll see,” Trump
said.
Trump has thrown out the traditional US playbook on free trade since his
shock 2016 election, vowing to protect forgotten workers and put “America
First.”
Xi has in turn cast himself as a defender of stable global capitalism, a
startling transformation for the leader of a communist state whose entry into
the World Trade Organization less than two decades ago was controversial.
In a speech to fellow G20 leaders, Xi said that the major economies
“should firmly uphold free trade and the rules-based multilateral trading
system.”
But in a rhetorical olive branch to Trump, Xi pledged to do more to open
up China’s economy.
“China will continue to deepen market-oriented reform, protect property
rights and intellectual property rights, encourage fair competition and do
more to expand imports,” he said.
– Tensions gradually ease –
MORE/FI/ 1306 hrs
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Trump has accused China of rampant theft of US technology and demanded that
the emerging power end its requirements that foreign companies team up with
local partners.
In the run-up to November 6 congressional elections, Trump ramped up
criticism and accused China of interfering domestically to hurt his
Republican Party.
But tensions have eased since then, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
assuring that the United States is not seeking a new Cold War and US and
Chinese trade officials swapping a lengthy list of items up for discussion.
Trump’s criticisms of China’s trade policy enjoy wide support across the
US political spectrum, but some fear that the president has bitten off more
than he can chew with a go-it-alone campaign that could damage markets
worldwide.
Trump counted a victory Friday for his brash trade stance as the United
States, Canada and Mexico signed a new trade deal, a successor to the North
American Free Trade Agreement.
While short of a complete rewrite of NAFTA once promised by Trump, he
hailed the new United States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement as an “incredible
milestone.”
He secured the support for the new agreement both of Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau and Mexico’s incoming leftist president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
The state-run China Daily said that the Pacific powers could strike a deal
in Buenos Aires but warned the United States against pushing too hard on
technology.
“Should there be any other aspirations, such as taking advantage of the
trade spat to throttle Chinese growth, then an agreement is unlikely to be
reached,” the newspaper said in an editorial Friday.
“But a good deal means both sides walking away happy. The US should give
its habitual winner-take-all approach to international relations the weekend
off,” it said.
– Tensions fill summit –
A substantive deal between the United States and China could mark a major
feat for the G20 summit, where expectations for collective action have been
low.
With Trump feuding with close US allies, two major summits this year —
the Group of Seven democracies and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
forum — ended without once-routine statements.
A French source said that European leaders were trying to forge a
statement on climate change even without the United States.
Trump has decided to pull the United States from the Paris accord on
curbing carbon emissions, saying it is unfair, despite mounting evidence of
the changing climate’s dire effects.
Trump called off talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the
summit, officially due to outrage over Moscow’s naval skirmishes with
Ukraine.
But Trump is also under mounting pressure at home in an investigation over
whether his presidential campaign colluded with Russia — a topic sure to
dominate his press conference shortly before he meets Xi over dinner.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1308 hrs