Trump-Xi meeting to solve the trade disputed might be postponed till June
March 19, 2019 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
A summit meeting between the Chinese and U.S. Presidents Xi and Trump, which was originally reported to be held by the end of March at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, might be postponed till June according to the latest reports, thereby also postponing a solution to the trade dispute. Both Presidents are expected to attend the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, in June. President Trump expects news – positive or otherwise – in three to four weeks. “We’ll have news on China. Probably one way or the other, we’re going to know over the next three to four weeks,” Trump said during a St. Patrick’s Day reception in the White House’s East Room.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang remained optimistic however, telling Chinese and foreign journalists at his yearly press conference that consultations between the two nations on economic and trade issues are still underway, and that he hoped the talks would deliver “good outcomes” and bring mutual benefits. “I believe this is also what the whole world would like to see,” he added. While dealing with China-U.S. trade frictions, the country will not take advantage of any third party nor target their interests, Li said, addressing whether Sino-U.S. trade talks would influence talks with the European Union. Premier Li also said economic decoupling from the United States was “not realistic”.
Chinese news agency Xinhua said “concrete progress” had been made on the text of a trade agreement following a phone conversation between Vice Premier Liu He and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. One of the main stumbling blocks to an agreement seems to be the insistence of U.S. negotiators to include an enforcement mechanism, allowing the U.S. to impose unilateral sanctions on China if it judged that China did not implement the agreement to its satisfaction. China argued that enforcement must be “two-way, fair and equal”.
Gary Cohn, the former Director of President Donald Trump’s National Economic Council, said the United States was “desperate right now” for a trade pact with China. “The President needs a win,” Cohn said. His comments stand in contrast to statements from Trump that he is in no rush for an agreement and is prepared to walk away from negotiations if the deal is not “right”. “I’m not in a rush whatsoever,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
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