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US-CHINA-TRADE-ECONOMY-DIPLOMACY
US-China trade talks ‘going very well’: Trump
WASHINGTON, Oct 11, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – President Donald Trump on Thursday
hinted at progress in his high-stakes trade battle with China, saying talks
with Beijing’s envoy had gone well.
The remarks added to an atmosphere that had grown warmer during the day
after Trump announced he would grant an audience at the White House to top
Chinese trade envoy Liu He.
“I will say I think it’s going really well,” Trump told reporters, offering
no details. “We had a very, very good negotiation with China.”
The new signs of comity were an abrupt improvement after a week in which
Washington blitzed Beijing with aggressive policy measures and talks appeared
headed for a dead end, just days before US duties on $250 billion in Chinese
imports are due to rise.
Wall Street closed higher, with investors buoyed by hopes that at least
escalation might be averted even if an overarching resolution was beyond
reach.
But pressure on the two sides to defuse the confrontation has mounted in
recent weeks as signs have grown increasingly clear the trade war — now more
than a year old — poses a mounting danger to the global economy.
China this year balked at Trump’s demands for a profound transformation to
the way it manages its economy and analysts say Beijing is unlikely to adopt
economic reforms that could undermine the Communist Party’s political power.
Speculation has instead focused on the possibility the two sides will seek
to seal an incremental deal this week as a confidence-building measure.
Myron Brilliant, head of international affairs at the US Chamber of
Commerce, told reporters on Thursday he had spoken with both sides and that
an agreement on currency could emerge this week.
“I think that could lead to a decision by the US administration not to put
forward a tariff rate hike on October 15,” he said.
The US Treasury in August branded China a currency manipulator, accusing
Beijing of deliberately weakening the RMB to gain an unfair trade advantages,
making good on a Trump campaign pledge.
Media reports early in the week had also said the Chinese side was
preparing an offer that falls short of addressing Trump’s core grievances but
would increase purchases of US farm exports and make smaller concessions in
return for a pause in tariff increases.
– ‘More and more friction’ –
Both sides were due to dine together on Thursday evening. Still, there was
no hiding the recent sharp deterioration in relations.
Just since Monday, Washington has imposed visa restrictions on senior
Chinese officials and blacklisted more than two dozen Chinese firms, accusing
them of persecuting ethnic Uighur Muslims in China’s western Xinjiang region.
The measures have outraged Beijing and in the process penalized major
players in the artificial intelligence sector, an area where the United
States and China are intense rivals.
Trump has both accused China of dragging its feet in the talks and said his
economic pressure leaves Beijing with little choice but to seek a bargain.
But his attitude toward the process is subject to the churning pressures
now competing for his attention.
He faces an intensifying impeachment probe by Democrats and stinging
bipartisan criticism for allowing a Turkish assault on Washington’s Kurdish
partners to go forward by pulling American forces away from the border in
northeast Syria.
Washington accuses China of attempting to dominate global industry through
massive state intervention in markets, theft of intellectual property,
hacking and subsidies, accusations shared by Europe and Japan.
And, while the mood had improved on Thursday, US officials are reportedly
studying ways other than tariffs that they can increase pressure on Beijing
to overcome its reluctance to address these complaints.
The New York Times said Thursday that coercive measures under consideration
included limiting Chinese companies’ access to capital markets as well as
exposing Chinese companies to greater criminal liability under US law,
heightened regulatory scrutiny and blocking some US pension investments in
China.
Meanwhile, US central bankers and others believe the trade war is raising
the chances the United States could slip into recession.
“We all know the next round of tariffs is going to hurt the United States
as much or more than China,” Wendy Cutler, vice president of the Asia Society
Policy Institute, told AFP.
“I think neither side will admit it but I think they’re both under pressure
to find a way to forestall the next set of tariff increases,” she said.
“Every month that these trade talks continue, there’s more and more
friction in the relationship.”
BSS/AFP/GMR/0917 hrs