Tag: China

Trump signs first phase of US-China trade deal

The Hill logoPresident Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He signed an initial “Phase One” trade deal Wednesday, freezing an almost 20-month trade war between Washington and Beijing and giving Trump a political boost as he seeks reelection.

In the agreement, China committed to boosting purchases of U.S. goods and services by $200 billion over the next two years, including $77.7 billion for manufactured goods and $32 billion for agricultural products.

“Today we take a momentous step, one that has never been taken before with China, toward a future of fair and reciprocal trade as we sign Phase One of the historic trade deal between the United States and China,” Trump said at the signing ceremony. Continue reading.

NOTE:  Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods, which Americans pay on imported goods like electronics and clothing, stay in effect.

Janet Yellen: The US-China trade war isn’t over and a tech fight risks dividing the world

HONG KONG (CNN Business) — The United States’ trade war with China is far from over, according to Janet Yellen, who is warning that unresolved tensions over technology could divide the world and slow the development of artificial intelligence and 5G.

The former chair of the Federal Reserve said Monday at the Asian Financial Forum that the “phase one” trade deal agreement struck by Washington and Beijing and due to be signed this week will leave tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese goods in place. And it doesn’t remove the “more troublesome” risk of conflict over emerging technologies, she warned.

Beijing and Washington will finalize the initial trade deal on Wednesday, according to President Donald Trump. China is sending its top trade negotiator to participate in the signing ceremony at the White House. Continue reading.

Phase 1 trade deal stops bleeding, doesn’t end U.S.-China dispute: U.S. Chamber

BEIJING (Reuters) – The Phase 1 trade deal to be signed this week by China and the United States “stops the bleeding” but does not end the trade war, a senior U.S. Chamber of Commerce official said on Monday, warning that significant challenges remain.

Myron Brilliant, the chamber’s Executive Vice President, told a media briefings in the Chinese capital that there is “clearly a sigh of relief from both sides” with the agreement, expected to be signed on Wednesday in Washington, and that the depth of the Phase 1 was more positive than initially thought.

“Implementation of Phase 1 will be important to building trust and certainty, building off the success of the negotiation,” said Brilliant, who said he had been briefed on the text of the accord but not seen it. Continue reading.

Bannon’s Work With Wanted Chinese Billionaire Began Shortly After He Left White House

New York Times logoStephen K. Bannon, once President Trump’s top political adviser, struck up a business relationship with a mysterious and wanted Chinese billionaire just after his White House job ended.

Almost immediately after ending his White House employment, Stephen K. Bannon, the former chief strategist to President Trump, forged a lucrative financial relationship with a mysterious Chinese billionaire who was sought by Beijing for extradition from the United States.

China’s government had already accused Guo Wengui, a real estate magnate also known as Miles Kwok, of money laundering, bribery and rape when he and Mr. Bannon developed a mutually beneficial relationship that began with a $150,000 loan to Mr. Trump’s onetime confidant, according to a memo written in May 2019 and obtained by The New York Times.

It escalated to a yearlong million-dollar contract, for which Mr. Bannon promised to introduce executives of Guo Media to “media personalities,” according to the news outlet Axios. Continue reading

Trump’s top economic aide just made a stunning admission about the president’s dealings with China

AlterNet logoWhite House Director of Economic Policy Larry Kudlow made a stunning admission on Wednesday as he was discussing President Donald Trump’s trade negotiations with China.

Eamon Javers, a CNBC journalist covering the economy, reported on the remarks Kudlow made to a group of reporters. Kudlow said that Henry Kissinger, President Richard Nixon’s former secretary of State, had recently been to the White House — and he has also recently met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping twice.

“I asked if Kissinger is playing a back channel role in trade talks,” Javers said. Continue reading

Krugman: On China trade war, Trump is a big loser who ‘talks loudly but carries a small stick’

AlterNet logoDonald Trump is declaring victory in his trade war with China.

Of course he is. He always claims victory, even — in fact, especially — when he loses.

Remember the 2018 midterm elections? You’d have thought Republicans had won every seat and exacted punitive damages from Democrats who’d had the temerity to run against them. Continue reading

From Lincoln Logs to luggage, U.S.-China trade deal still leaves huge cloud over American business

Washington Post logoClassic toys such as Lincoln Logs and My Little Pony bring children smiles every holiday season. But for the company that makes them, Florida-based Basic Fun! Toys, President Trump’s trade war with China promised to make this December a decidedly less joyful time.

The company’s president and chief executive, Jay Foreman, had to lay off a dozen workers recently, in part on fears that another round of China tariffs would take effect Sunday and hit his business hard.

Foreman won a reprieve Friday when Trump canceled those tariffs and announced the details of a “phase one” China trade deal that would ease economic hostilities. But he’s not breathing a full sigh of relief amid anxiety that the truce with China could prove fleeting.

Continue reading

Trump, China announce ‘Phase One’ trade deal

NOTE:  This agreement means NEW tariffs won’t go into effect.  The previous rounds of tariffs remain in effect.

The Hill logoPresident Trump and China on Friday announced that they had reached a “phase one” trade deal that would see a reduction in tariffs from both sides and increase China’s purchases of U.S. agricultural products.

“We have agreed to a very large Phase One Deal with China,” Trump announced on Twitter, adding that negotiations on “Phase 2” of the deal would begin immediately, rather than after the 2020 election.

Trump and his administration pushed back at reports that he had agreed to halve the tariffs on billions of Chinese imports.

Continue reading

In latest China pivot, Trump says partial trade deal might not be completed this year

Washington Post logoPresident Trump suggested on Friday that the United States and China may not complete a partial trade deal this year, raising fresh doubts about prospects for a commercial truce that once was expected to be signed next weekend.

“We’ll see what happens,” the president replied when a reporter asked if the agreement would be concluded in 2019.

Speaking on the south lawn of the White House, the president added to confusion over the state of the roller coaster talks. He denied reports — which the White House had confirmed one day earlier — that he had agreed to remove some tariffs as part of an initial deal.

View the complete November 8 article by David J. Lynch on The Washington Post website here.

Trump has no China trade pact, but he does have a signing location in mind

2020 battleground state of Iowa is president’s preferred spot

President Donald Trump gave no indication Friday he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are closer to signing a “Phase One” trade pact, but he does have a place in mind where a signing event for it could happen — a battleground state that has borne the brunt of the U.S.-China trade war.

“It could even be in Iowa,” he told reporters on the White House South Lawn as he departed for a campaign rally in Mississippi. “I would do it in the U.S. He would too,” he added, speaking for Xi.

Trump contended that Iowa is a “possibility” because the deal would be a windfall for farmers. As the president has escalated the trade conflict with China, Iowa has seen a drop-off in exports there of two of its biggest sources of income: pork and soybeans.

View the complete November 1 article by John T. Bennett on The Roll Call website here.