Beijing is consulting foreign officials for wisdom on dealing with Robert Lighthizer, a veteran of the US-Japan trade battles, the Post has learned
As China figures out how to deal with Robert Lighthizer, US President Donald Trump’s top trade negotiator, Beijing has turned to an unexpected rival for advice – Japan.
A diplomatic source who has dealt with Lighthizer said Chinese officials and academics have reached out in recent months to foreign diplomats and former officials of American trading partners for wisdom on handling the US trade representative.
The irony of China looking to its neighbour and rival Japan for insight has been brought about by the pivotal role Lighthizer played in the US-Japan trade battles of more than three decades ago, with severe consequences for Japan.
“Lighthizer is tough and relentless in negotiations,” the source said. “Some Chinese officials and experts are looking for advice on how to deal with [him].”
As former US President Ronald Reagan’s deputy trade chief in the 1980s, Lighthizer negotiated two dozen trade agreements with foreign nations on a range of commodities, from steel to farm products.
When Japan’s trade surplus with the US was sparking a confrontation between the two countries, the former international trade lawyer pressured Japan to reduce steel and auto exports to the US by restricting its shipments of electronic and agricultural products with punitive tariffs and quotas.
Washington also launched a series of trade investigations against Japan, leading to the US dollar’s depreciation against the Japanese yen.
Japan’s economy went into a decade-long decline after an attempt to boost domestic consumption through the lowering of interest rates triggered a bubble economy built on inflated real estate and stock market prices that ultimately collapsed.
When Lighthizer was sworn in as US trade representative last year, the US and China were widely expected to move towards a more confrontational trade relationship, given the trade negotiator’s criticism of China’s economic model as an unprecedented threat to the world trading system.
On that note, Lighthizer’s office formally notified the World Trade Organisation late last year that the US opposed granting China market economy status, provoking Beijing’s ire.
An investigation subsequently launched by the trade representative’s office into China’s alleged intellectual property theft under Section 301 of the 1974 United States Trade Act authorised tariffs aimed at forcing changes to Chinese government policies over intellectual property.
So far, up to US$150 billion worth of Chinese products could face additional US tariffs as a result of the investigation’s findings.
Following two days of trade talks ending over the weekend, Trump’s trade officials remained divided over how to move forward in settling the countries’ trade disputes, with Lighthizer still one of the hawkish voices.
Several hours after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the US was “putting the trade war on hold” and would not assess tariffs on Beijing while the two sides talked, Lighthizer put out a statement saying that tariffs remained an important tool to “protect our technology”.
As China-US trade tensions continue to rise, Beijing has positioned itself as a calm player in the squabble and a defender of free trade amid Trump’s protectionist policies.
