Editors note: China still does not admit that it engages in trade cheating and technology theft. Merely promising to buy more goods is like a thief saying he won’t stop stealing but he will become a customer at your store.
President Trump on Wednesday said he could not accept the trade terms China is offering and said tariffs on billions of dollars in additional Chinese goods could be forthcoming.
[Anshu Sirupurapu | September 5, 2018 | Inside US Trade]
“We’ve done very well in our negotiation with China, but we’re not prepared to make the deal that they’d like to make,” Trump said in a meeting with congressional leaders. “We’ll continue to talk to China. I have great respect for President Xi. He’s really a very special guy. But right now, we just can’t make that deal.”
Analysts and industry sources have said that China to date has offered only to reduce the bilateral trade deficit by increasing purchases of U.S. goods but has not substantively engaged on U.S. demands for structural reforms in China identified in the Section 301 report prepared by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Trump has already imposed tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods following that report. A comment period for proposed duties on another $200 billion worth of goods is set to end on Thursday.
“In the meantime, we’re taking in billions of dollars of taxes coming in from China … with the potential of billions and billions of dollars more taxes coming in,” Trump said.
