The next round of trade negotiations with China will happen in the US later this month to ease the trade tension between the two nations. Tension between the two nations have grown exponentially from a back and forth tariff war that started with Trump’s administration charging extra for materials imported from international countries. The delegation will be led by the Chinese Vic Minister of Commerce, Wang Shouwen. He will be meeting with the US representatives that will be run by David Malpass, the Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs.
It is estimated that these talks will happen on the 21st to the 22nd of August this year, just before the Trump administration places a further 16 billion USD on new tariffs of Chinese goods entering the US. While the two parties will be discussing the gap in expectations, Washington is also demanding that Beijing improves their market access and IP (intellectual property) protection for US companies within China. They are also pressing for cut back of trade deficit with China which equals to 375 billion USD.
Larry Kudlow, who is the head of the White House Economic Council, has declined to comment on what the specific goals of the Wang-Malpass talks are. He did however mention to CNBC Television that it is a good thing that China is doing delegation here in the US as we haven’t had that in a while.
Kudlow also mentioned that the Chinese government shouldn’t underestimate the President’s persistence to continue this battle and to eliminate barriers and quotas as well as stopping the theft of American intellectual property in China.
The upcoming talks with China will be held at a lower level compared to the prior rounds that took place. The previous meetings made little to no progress and US and China sources are stating that the same will come from the upcoming talks if no USTR officials are involved. Only time will tell what will emerge from these talks with China but none the less it is a good thing as the two economic super powers have been on a meeting hiatus since early June when Wilbur Ross, US commerce secretary, met with Liu He, Chinese vice premier, in Beijing.
