China doesn’t seem to be offering much more than it already has. Will that be enough for Trump?
From January 7 to 9, a U. S. delegation was in Beijing for talks about trade issues amid an ongoing 90-day truce in the trade war. The delegation, led by Deputy U. S. Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish, extended its stay for an additional day; talks had originally been scheduled to conclude on January 8.
Interestingly, while officially this was a vice minister-level dialogue, China’s top man for the trade negotiations, Vice Premier Liu He, made an appearance anyway. A leaked photo of the first day of discussions showed Liu present at the venue, along with Commerce Minister Zhong Shan and Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen (the official head of the Chinese delegation).
According to a brief statement from the Chinese Commerce Ministry, the two sides held an “extensive, in-depth, and detailed exchange” on trade issues, including structural factors. That statement added that the consultations had “established a foundation” for solving the most pressing issues.
At a press conference on January 10, Commerce Ministry spokesperson Gao Feng said the talks had been “solemn, earnest, and candid,” as reflected by the fact that the dialogue was extended by a day. He added that China and the United States would “maintain close communication” on a potential next round of talks.
A statement on the talks from the Office of the U. S. Trade Representative (USTR) did not mention any new breakthroughs, but instead listed longstanding topics of discussion. In that vein, USTR said the talks focused on “ways to achieve fairness, reciprocity, and balance in trade relations between our two countries,” in particular by “achieving needed structural changes in China with respect to forced technology transfer, intellectual property protection, non-tariff barriers, cyber intrusions and cyber theft of trade secrets for commercial purposes, services, and agriculture.
