This week, US and Chinese trade negotiators will move to Shanghai to negotiate for the first time since the two leaders agreed at a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. last month.
According to Reuters, the talks will last for 2 days. The expectation of progress in this negotiation is very low. So officials and businesses are hoping that at least Washington and Beijing can detail their commitments following "goodwill" gestures and pave the way for future negotiations.
Goodwill actions include the purchase of agricultural products by the United States and the United States, allowing companies to continue to sell their products to Huawei.
On July 26, President Donald Trump said that he thought China might not want to sign a trade deal until after the 2020 election, hoping they could negotiate more favorable terms with another American president.
Reuters quoted an unnamed source as saying that last week, a delegation of US company executives went to Beijing to emphasize to Chinese officials about the urgency of a trade deal. They warned Chinese negotiators in meetings that if no agreement was reached in the coming months, political issues in China and the imminent US presidential election would make reaching an agreement. become extremely difficult.
“Let’s come to an agreement. Although this is difficult, if not until December 31, this will not happen, "a US executive told Reuters, referring to the US election campaign in 2020. Others said the time frame for the agreements would be shorter.
China is still asking the United States to remove all tariffs. This is a condition for both sides to reach an agreement. Beijing opposes the phasing out of tariffs, while US trade officials consider tariff elimination a leverage to enforce any agreement.
Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Liu Hac (left) and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer at a meeting in Washington, DC, in May. Photo: REUTERS
China also defended the notion that buying US goods must be at a reasonable level in accordance with its needs.
Meanwhile, US negotiators demand that China change its laws as a guarantee to protect the secrets of American companies, but Beijing has vehemently denied it.
An industry source in the US said they did not expect much of any breakthrough in Shanghai talks and the main goal of this meeting was that the two sides made goodwill moves. apparently, after the Osaka summit.
The two parties will hardly agree on a written agreement. When Washington wanted to comply with the draft before May and China wanted to start over with the revised version they sent back to US officials, what caused the negotiation to collapse in May.
Zhang Huanbo, senior researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchange (CCIEE), said he could not verify US officials’ claims that the two sides agreed to up to 90% of a deal. agreement before the incident occurred in 5/2019. "Only 0 and 100% - agreement or no agreement," Zhang said.
