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US-CHINA-TRADE-DISPUTE
Trump opens door to trade deal with China soon
WASHINGTON, Nov 17, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – President Donald Trump said Friday
that China was ready to make a deal to defuse trade tensions, so he might not
have to punish the country with more import tariffs.
A deal to resolve the dispute would be a huge breakthrough on the issue
that has dominated much of Trump’s two years in office, blowback from which
threatens to take the steam out of the US economy.
“China wants to make a deal,” Trump told reporters. “They sent a list of
things that they are willing to do.”
While the offer is not acceptable yet, he said he was optimistic for an
agreement to get “reciprocal” trade.
Trump this year has imposed steep tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods
and has threatened to hit the remaining $267 billion in products the US
imports from the world’s number two economy each year.
US companies and farmers have complained of lost business and rising
prices for key components as a result of the trade friction and that was a
factor in some of the contests in the midterm congressional elections early
this month.
“I think a deal will be made and we will find out very soon,” Trump said,
noting Beijing’s list included 142 items and includes “a lot of the things we
asked for.”
“Some things were left off. We will probably get them, too,” he said.
– Tariff increase –
But the statements seemed to contradict comments from Trump’s Commerce
Secretary Wilbur Ross, who just hours earlier had said a deal with Beijing
before January was “impossible.”
Trump is due to meet with China’s President Xi Jinping late this month in
Buenos Aires on the sidelines of the Group of 20 leaders summit.
However, Ross said those talks would serve as a framework to resolving the
dispute. “We certainly won’t have a full formal deal by January. Impossible,”
he said, according to Bloomberg.
The January date is key since the 10 percent tariffs in place on $200
billion in annual imports from China is due to increase to 25 percent.
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Trump indicated he will continue to continue to take a hard line with
China until the country changes.
US officials have highlighted high Chinese tariffs but also the country’s
trade and investment rules that allows rampant theft of American technology.
“We have to have reciprocal trade,” he said. “We can’t have trade meant
for stupid people. That’s the way they took advantage of our country.”
US stocks jumped following Trump’s remarks, quickly pairing some gains. By
2000 GMT, the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average was modestly above the
opening level.
Investors are hoping for a deal to end the uncertainty, which hurts the
bottom line for many companies as well as increasing prices for consumers.
Some firms have even warned that they might have to postpone investment
plans if they cannot insure a steady supply of material.
Economists say the tariffs’ full bite has yet to hit the American economy
but the trade conflict comes at a bad time for China, which is seeing slower
growth.
Chad Bown of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, who has
been studying the impact of the trade tariffs closely, said in a report on
Thursday that Trump’s tariffs on steel, which largely targeted China and
other big producers, were inflicting collateral damage on poorer nations that
are small producers and pose no threat to the US economy.
BSS/AFP/HR/0930