Originally appeared at ZeroHedge
Though it was entirely ignored by the market, the latest US-China trade-deal headline, which hit late last night, shortly before Robert Lighthizer and Steve Mnuchin were set to leave for Beijing to begin what was supposed to be the ‘final’ round of talks, offers what has become an increasingly rare dose of pessimism right in the Bloomberg headline: With ‘significant issues’ still unresolved (despite Larry Kudlow’s assurances that he was ‘cautiously optimistic’ about a deal breakthrough), President Trump is once again threatening to walk away “if he isn’t satisfied with how talks are progressing.”
According to a White House statement, this week’s talks “will cover trade issues including intellectual property, forced technology transfer, non-tariff barriers, agriculture, services, purchases, and enforcement.”
After this week’s round of talks wraps up, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will lead a delegation to Washington for talks beginning on May 8. Reports last week suggested that Washington and Beijing had been hoping to announce a tentative deal, and a date for a signing summit between President Trump and Xi Jinping, following the close of last week’s talks.
Though both China and the US recently reported better than expected Q1 growth (though the data underlying the headline weren’t quite so rosy, and some have raised questions about ‘fake growth’, while the pickup in China was likely driven by one of the biggest credit injections on record), gauges of global trade have showed a sharp drop off since the beginning of the year.
Expressing dissatisfaction with Beijing’s willingness to compromise on issues like IP protections (Beijing has reportedly rankled at furhter compromise after passing a law purportedly banning forced technology transfers) and market access, Washington kept China on a “priority watch list” of nations that don’t adequately protect IP rights, according to the annual report of the USTR’s office on IP practices around the world.
Meanwhile, during a speech to 40 world leaders at Beijing’s annual “Belt & Road Initiative” conference, Xi promised to scale back Beijing’s ‘debt trap diplomacy’ and also offered some positive comments about the trade deal.
However, with his job possibly on the line, Mnuchin hasn’t given up on the sunny rhetoric. During an appearance at the Milken conference on Sunday, he said the negotiations were nearing their ‘final laps’, though he declined to say whether the talks would be wrapped up by June.
Mr. Mnuchin, one of President Trump’s lead negotiators, said that while the two sides are closer to an agreement, more work remains to be done, and that the talks are nearing a point where they would either produce a deal or end with no agreement, according to the New York Times.
“We’re getting into the final laps,” Mr. Mnuchin said in an interview on the sideline of the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles.
“I think both sides have a desire to reach an agreement,” Mr. Mnuchin said. “We’ve made a lot of progress.”
Though he did acknowledge that there are some “significant issues that remain open.”
Well, good for us. Too bad the US is about a quarter-of-a-century too late to fix these ‘significant issues’. Best item in the article:
…Beijing’s ‘debt trap diplomacy’…
See? PROOF that China is stealing US intellectual property. WE invented debt trap diplomacy and China stole it from us! Well, really it was our Khazar Mafia bankers and diplomats that invented it, but you get the idea…
If you steal property from a thief that stole it from someone else, is it actually theft?
China should just let Washington take over all Chinese assets and government policy.
In return the US would at least make sure that EVERY Chinese has a bowl of genetically modified rice per day, as well as the US system of health insurance :)
On the other hand, tell Washington to Go Forth and Multiply, as well as selling all China’s US bonds.
I think I shall stay with the last sentence.
PS Have a look at this – https://journal-neo.org/2019/04/28/sri-lanka-us-saudi-terror-targets-chinas-allies/
Of course any country that doesn’t submit to the USA gets attacked by terrorists.
That is a very revealing article, Al. I have long suspected this, and you as well I would think. The positive to all of this US sponsorship of terrorism, is that the intelligence agencies of Russia and her allies, together with the allies of the US, must have realised this for many years as well.
I am sure there is a plan by Russia and China to fully expose this and that will take place after a US blunder that the West cannot hide or ignore.
It is then that the US will be at her most dangerous, and perhaps the US full exposure with terrorism will coincide with the latest Russian and Chinese missiles being commissioned by their militaries.
If the US can be exposed and neutered, her vassals will doubtless say ,’ we knew all of this but could do nothing’. Her vassals are as gutless as the US herself.
The US treats conflicts like a videogame that requires constant player gratification to succeed.
Russia, China and Iran realise that it is better to wait until their enemy is bleeding internally before issuing the Coups de Grace .
For humanitarian reasons ao course :)
China would never be kneeled to Washington. God is with Chinese nation, that is why their population strength is better than America and EU.
China every month sign new projects to encourage more employments in China and in allied countries. China trade imports more than America and EU. More migrants moving towards China if compare with America and EU.
Basic negotiating tactic No. 1 Never be afraid to walk away. For power in a relationship rests with those who cares less. It’s the opposite tactic from playing chicken.
Exactly, and it’s America that wants the trade deal, the Chinese were never going to bow down to America.
Such stupidity, China was never going to give into American threats, they have just been playing the Americans.