President Trump’s economic advisors left Beijing on Friday with few apparent gains, reinforcing the hurdles facing the world’s two largest economies as they careen toward a trade war.
President Trump’s economic advisors left Beijing on Friday with few apparent gains, accentuating the hurdles facing the world’s two largest economies as they careen toward a trade war.
Both sides recognized that “major differences” remain, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency said in a terse statement Friday afternoon. But they “reached consensus in some areas” and agreed to maintain communication.
The U. S. delegation, led by Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin, made a quick exit Friday evening without holding a news conference. Few analysts expected a breakthrough, but neither side held up even token wins. It remains unclear whether the U. S. will feel satisfied enough to delay an impending $150 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods.
“How could there be a negotiation in two days?” said Ashley Qian Wan, China economist for Bloomberg Economics in Beijing. “The U. S. came to give an offer and see if China would take it or not.”
U. S. officials sent a list of hefty requests ahead of Thursday’s meetings. They demanded China shrink its trade surplus $200 billion by the end of 2020 and stop subsidizing its high-tech production, according to a document first confirmed Friday by the Wall Street Journal.
Even before the talks began, Chinese officials made it clear they wouldn’t concede on Trump’s desire to narrow the trade gap so dramatically or curb China’s plan to develop homegrown, cutting-edge industries .
“If trade wars are fought, China will inevitably suffer losses,” Xinhua said in a Wednesday commentary. “However, China has the political advantage of centralized and unified leadership, a huge domestic market as its support and the international community’s support for a multilateral trading system.”
Liu He, Xi’s top economic advisor, led a delegation that produced its own demands — including requests that the U. S. stop its investigation into China’s intellectual property practices and remove proposed tariffs.
But Liu had requested someone to talk to about the trade issue when he visited the White House in March. And this week for a few hours, at least, that happened.
