The softening Chinese economy has weakened Beijing’s hand as it struggles to settle the trade war. Its pull with North Korea could strengthen its position.
SHANGHAI — China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has offered carrots to President Trump to stop a trade war that has contributed to a sharp slowdown in the Chinese economy. On Tuesday, he also seemed to brandish a stick.
Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader, arrived by train in Beijing on Tuesday to meet with Mr. Xi just as talks with midlevel trade negotiators from the United States were winding down. Though the government said the events were unconnected, Mr. Kim’s surprise visit was an unmistakable reminder that China could complicate the Trump administration’s pursuit of other goals — including ridding the North of nuclear weapons — if the two powers fail to strike a deal on trade.
The trade talks were set to wrap up on Tuesday. The two sides are laboring to finish a deal before March 1, when higher American tariffs will kick in and escalate the trade war.
Mr. Kim’s arrival was the clearest sign yet that China is looking for ways to prod the United States to settle the dispute quickly. China’s economy has slowed significantly. Both business and consumer confidence have fallen. Car sales have plunged. Weak smartphone purchases contributed to Apple’s warning last week that its sales figures would be lower than expected because of results from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The trade war isn’t the only reason for China’s slowdown, but it is making the slump worse.
“The trade war, in addition to its direct costs, has created huge uncertainties for exporters and importers, producers, consumers, entrepreneurs and investors,” Fred Hu, the founder of a large private equity firm in Hong Kong, said at a UBS conference in Shanghai on Monday.
By contrast, the Trump administration’s trade hawks see China’s offers so far as inadequate, people with detailed knowledge of the talks said last week.
The trade hawks have been pushing China to add more specifics to what they have characterized as nebulous promises to improve intellectual property protection, to limit government subsidies and to stop putting pressure on American companies to transfer valuable technology to China.
With Chinese and United States officials meeting to discuss how to end their trade war, North Korea’s recalcitrance could provide China with badly needed leverage. Mr. Trump’s key strategy on North Korea — using sanctions to apply “maximum pressure” to the isolated country — relies on Chinese cooperation, as more than 90 percent of North Korea’s external trade passes through China, and has at times been financed by China as well.
