The United States and China ended trade talks in Beijing on Sunday without any deals and with Chinese officials refusing to commit to buying more American goods without a Trump administration agreement not to impose further tariffs on Chinese exports.
“If the United States introduces trade measures, including an increase of tariffs, all the economic and trade outcomes negotiated by the two parties will not take effect,” China said in a statement distributed by the state-controlled media. The apparent impasse left the Trump administration with the issue of what to do about China’s industrial policies.
It also left unresolved an awkward issue for both sides: the Chinese telecommunications company ZTE, which had violated sanctions against North Korea and Iran. President Donald Trump had sent to the talks a team led by commerce secretary Wilbur Ross and including senior officials from the treasury and agriculture departments. Conspicuously absent were top officials from the office of the US trade representative, which has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion (€42.8 billion) a year in Chinese goods, in addition to the tariffs imposed on $3 billion (€2.5 billion) a year in Chinese steel and aluminum exports.
Negotiations
At the end of the negotiations, Beijing officials refused to pledge any additional purchases from the United States without an American agreement to resolve broader trade issues. If the US imposes the tariffs, China has previously said, Beijing would retaliate by blocking an equal value of soybeans and other goods from the US.
In addition, Chinese officials have expressed concern about ZTE, which has largely shut down operations in the last month after an obscure American government agency, the Bureau of Industry and Security, ordered US companies to stop selling crucial microchips and software to ZTE for seven years. Then, in a tweet nearly three weeks ago, Mr Trump said that the commerce department should reconsider American sanctions on ZTE, without any obvious Chinese concession in exchange.
The arrival of Mr Ross and his team had fostered optimism in China that the issue could be settled without any big moves by Beijing. “Chinese officials know these talks are precarious, but may underestimate the domestic political cost Trump now sees in lifting the ZTE ban without major concessions from China,” said Andrew Gilholm, director of China analysis at Control Risks, a political and security consulting firm.
“If the ban stays, Beijing’s retaliation will definitely go up a gear.”
– New York Times