Two Days Turned into Three Days

Keith Bradsher of The New York Times states, “Three days of trade negotiations between midlevel American and Chinese officials ended in Beijing on Wednesday afternoon with progress in identifying and narrowing the two sides’ differences but little sense of when they might reach a deal.”  The original mid-level talks were only supposed to last two days, and turned into three days. Now onto high-level talks…

Talks to End U.S.-China Trade War Now Shift to Make-or-Break Rounds

Neither China or the United States has released a statement about the talks, but there is speculation the two countries could reach some kind of deal before March 2, when the tariffs for Chinese imports will rise another 25% in additional duty on $200 billion of imports per year.

The article also mentions, “The scheduled two-day talks extended into a third day as American officials pressed China for more details on how it will live up to its commitments, said people with knowledge of the negotiations, who insisted on anonymity to avoid disrupting the talks.”

 

China has agreed on a couple of outstanding issues such as buying American soybeans, cutting tariffs on American cars, and declaring the infamous and deadly drug has “agreed to designate Fentanyl as a Controlled Substance, meaning that people selling Fentanyl to the United States will be subject to China’s maximum penalty under the law.” [White House Statement].   It has also reduced tariffs on more than 700 categories of goods from around the world.

In another article, The New York Times states, “[China] is offering to keep its hands off valuable corporate secrets, while also allowing foreign investors into more industries than ever before…..Beijing hopes all of that will be enough to let President Trump declare victory and end the trade war between the two largest economies. But the offer combines some real concessions, like lower tariffs, with nebulous promises, and it will be hard to ensure that China sticks to its commitments.”

There are other claims The White House has mentioned that make China an unfair trading partner. To read those claims, click below.

China Offers Trump a Trade Peace Deal. It May Not Be Enough.

With Kim’s Visit, China Shows U.S. It Has Leverage on Trade