I don’t want to talk to China right now, says Donald Trump
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Washington/Beijing — US President Donald Trump has said he called off last weekend’s trade talks with China, raising questions about the future of a trade deal that is now the most stable point in an increasingly tense relationship.
“I canceled talks with China,” Trump said on Tuesday in Yuma, Arizona. “I don’t want to talk to China right now.”
The phase-one trade deal, which came into force in February, had called for discussions on implementation of the agreement every six months. Chinese vice-premier Liu He was supposed to hold a video conference call with US trade representative Robert Lighthizer and treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, but it was postponed indefinitely.
On Wednesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian deferred comment to the “[correct] department” when asked about Trump’s remarks on the trade talks.
While China is making many of the structural changes it promised on issues such as intellectual property protection, its purchases of US goods are well below where they need to be to meet promised targets, and there’s almost no chance they can be fulfilled now with the damage Covid-19 has done to the global economy. A collapse of the deal risks leading to a return of the tit-for-tat tariff war that hurt trade and companies around the world.
“The phase-one trade deal has been the bright spot in the relationship,” Charles Freeman, senior vice-president for Asia at the US Chamber of Commerce, told Bloomberg Television on Wednesday. “I’m certain the president looks at the election and equity markets and realises that, as challenging as it might be to get the commitments implemented by China that his folks have engineered, it probably would be worse to just scrap the deal entirely.”
‘We’ll see what happens’
Addressing whether the US would pull out of the phase-one deal, Trump said: “We’ll see what happens.” Terminating the deal would require a written notification and take effect 60 days later, unless both parties agree on a different date.
The talks never made it onto any official public calendar in Washington or Beijing, but the South China Morning Post reported that they were set for last Saturday. Earlier, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that information on high-level talks will be released “in due course”.
“The recent US sanctions on Chinese companies likely impacted the talks,” said Mei Xinyu, a researcher at a think-tank under China’s commerce ministry. “How can the talks proceed ...
“I canceled talks with China,” Trump said on Tuesday in Yuma, Arizona. “I don’t want to talk to China right now.”
The phase-one trade deal, which came into force in February, had called for discussions on implementation of the agreement every six months. Chinese vice-premier Liu He was supposed to hold a video conference call with US trade representative Robert Lighthizer and treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, but it was postponed indefinitely.
On Wednesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian deferred comment to the “[correct] department” when asked about Trump’s remarks on the trade talks.
While China is making many of the structural changes it promised on issues such as intellectual property protection, its purchases of US goods are well below where they need to be to meet promised targets, and there’s almost no chance they can be fulfilled now with the damage Covid-19 has done to the global economy. A collapse of the deal risks leading to a return of the tit-for-tat tariff war that hurt trade and companies around the world.
“The phase-one trade deal has been the bright spot in the relationship,” Charles Freeman, senior vice-president for Asia at the US Chamber of Commerce, told Bloomberg Television on Wednesday. “I’m certain the president looks at the election and equity markets and realises that, as challenging as it might be to get the commitments implemented by China that his folks have engineered, it probably would be worse to just scrap the deal entirely.”
‘We’ll see what happens’
Addressing whether the US would pull out of the phase-one deal, Trump said: “We’ll see what happens.” Terminating the deal would require a written notification and take effect 60 days later, unless both parties agree on a different date.
The talks never made it onto any official public calendar in Washington or Beijing, but the South China Morning Post reported that they were set for last Saturday. Earlier, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that information on high-level talks will be released “in due course”.
“The recent US sanctions on Chinese companies likely impacted the talks,” said Mei Xinyu, a researcher at a think-tank under China’s commerce ministry. “How can the talks proceed ...
