Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) ripped into President Trump for failing to wring meaningful concessions and concrete commitments out of Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting last week, claiming Trump left the “golden opportunity” meeting “empty handed.”
[Jack Caporal] April 11th, 2017 [Inside US Trade]
Trump came away from the April 6-7 rendezvous with Xi with two main outcomes on the trade front: a 100-day plan on trade agreed to by both countries and a revamped framework for the relationship called the U.S.-China Comprehensive Dialogue, of which economic issues are one of four pillars.
Schumer, however, told reporters on an April 11 conference call that the 100-day plan “means virtually nothing” and characterized initiatives where the U.S. works in concert with China as “a lot of hype and no real action.”
He added that it’s likely “the 100 days plan will fail the same test: a lot of talk, no action.”
“What have they accomplished?” Schumer rhetorically asked of the Trump administration on reining in what he sees as unfair Chinese trade practices. “I can’t think of a single job they’ve saved.”
The minority leader also said Trump has missed the boat in linking a better “trade deal” for China with Beijing’s efforts to check North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, a topic which Trump tweeted about just before the press call.
Instead, Schumer said, Trump should take a harder line on trade with China, which he argued would create an incentive for China to rein in North Korea on the nuclear front.
