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US-CHINA-TRADE-DISPUTE
US, China to resume trade talks next week
WASHINGTON, July 25, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – US and Chinese officials are
restarting negotiations in an effort to resolve the year-long trade dispute,
with two days of talks due next week, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
said Wednesday.
The dialogue in Shanghai on Tuesday and Wednesday will be the first face-
to-face meetings since negotiations collapsed in May after President Donald
Trump accused Beijing of reneging on its commitments.
Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will lead the US
delegation.
The White House said in a statement the talks, with Vice Premier Liu He,
will “cover a range of issues, including intellectual property, forced
technology transfer, non-tariff barriers, agriculture, services, the trade
deficit and enforcement.”
Senior officials have spoken by phone twice in the last two weeks in the
bid to jump start the negotiations.
Mnuchin said on CNBC he hopes to make progress but added there are “a lot
of issues” pending so he expects another round of talks would follow in
Washington.
At a meeting in Japan last month, US President Donald Trump and his
Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed to cease further hostilities in the
year-long trade war while the two sides worked to revive negotiations.
The countries have imposed tariffs on $360 billion in two-way trade and
Trump has threatened even more punishing duties on Chinese goods.
That truce halted Trump’s plan to hit China with another round of
punishing tariffs on $300 billion in goods. The International Monetary Fund
warned that that step added to existing tariffs would cut global economic
growth by 0.5 percent.
Washington is demanding Beijing end theft of American technology, and open
its economy further to imported goods and foreign investment.
Stock markets were cheered when word of possible talks emerged Tuesday but
the good news was overshadowed Wednesday by disappointing earnings results
from Boeing and Caterpillar — which specifically pointing to weakening
demand in China.
MORE/HR/1048
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US-CHINA-TRADE-DISPUTE 2 LAST WASHINGTON
– National security concerns –
The trade dispute has become enmeshed in a national security conflict that
led Washington to impose tough sanctions on Chinese telecom giant Huawei,
sharply curtailing the company’s operations angering Beijing.
The Trump administration has put Huawei on its so-called Entity List,
which means US companies need a license to supply it with US technology.
Huawei — a leader in next-generation 5G wireless technology — remains
barred from developing 5G networks in the United States, and the Trump
administration is trying to convince its allies to do the same.
Mnuchin implied that the Huawei case is on a separate track from the trade
talks. The Commerce Department is looking at applications for waivers from
the sanctions.
He also downplayed concerns about links between Google and Beijing.
“We’re not aware of Google working with the Chinese government in a way
that raises concerns,” Mnuchin said.
“They assured us that there is very, very limited work. The only work
they’re doing is some minimal open source work.”
Trump last week said he wants his administration to “take a look” into
whether Google has been working with the Chinese government — an allegation
swiftly denied by the US internet giant.
BSS/AFP/HR/1050