At least stockbrokers are discreetly optimistic. It has now been more than two months since governments of China and USA spoke to each or about trade war – that is why securities dealers in Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong are already looking forward to being renegotiated: Stock markets in East Asia closed at beginning of week with price gains. But wher customs dispute between two countries, which was started by US President Donald Trump in short term, seems to be doubtful at moment.
The meeting on Wednesday in Washington is politically low-threshold. The nine-member delegation from China is headed by Vice-Minister Wang Shouwen, who meets David Malpass, an undersecretary in US Treasury Department. More than an exploration of wher furr meetings make sense, will not come out during conversation. For Wang on one hand is of low rank, and Americans are facing two camps.
The Ministry of Finance under Steven Mnuchin is generally interested in a faster solution and has a list of claims that are not entirely impossible for Chinese side. This includes measures to reduce trade deficit, such as reduction of steel subsidies or pledge to buy more products such as soy from USA. The question of import tariffs is currently dominated by US Trade Commissioner Robert E. Lighthizer, a hardliners who is pushing for a much more protectionist trade policy towards China and is currently trumps blessing.
Additional import duties should followOn Thursday, Lighthizer will be announcing furr import duties of 25 percent on products from China, including chemicals and metals. Toger with US import tariffs already collected in July on Chinese imports worth 34 billion dollars, announced were n a circumference of 50 billion dollars. In September, US wants to decide on additional import duties on Chinese goods worth about 200 billion dollars. Overall, China exported goods worth over 500 billion dollars a year to US.
The Beijing leadership also wants to levy new tariffs on US imports of 16 billion dollars, including diesel and medical technology, as retaliation from Thursday. However, China's potential for increased import duties to US is limited, as China imports much less from US than vice versa. Donald Trump has been boring us for years on high trade deficit of Americans towards China and also against EU.
But US import duties are targeting much more than deficit. It is about accusations that China's economic officials are forcing foreign firms as a price for access to Chinese market to hand over technology. In addition, China's leadership makes it difficult for foreign companies to enter certain markets or to prevent m in areas such as banks, high-tech, energy and digital economy. It also accuses Chinese of perpetrating hacker attacks on computer networks of foreign companies in order to reach industrial secrets.
Date Of Update: 22 August 2018, 12:00
