Future of Sino-US trade ‘still in doubt’
Analysts say Beijing is ready to deal at talks, but may not be able to satisfy hawks in the US
China might propose further trade deals with the United States to warm up relations as the two countries wrap up their 100-day plan to address their trade imbalance, but the future of their economic ties is still uncertain, analysts said.
Any such deals will be unveiled while a Chinese delegation led by Vice-Premier Wang Yang, Vice-Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao and Vice-Commerce Minister Yu Jianhua is in Washington for the first Sino-US comprehensive economic dialogue, starting on Wednesday.
The talks are the culmination of an agreement made in April, when President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump met in Florida.
Several deals have been announced in the run-up to the talks, including ones involving soybeans and beef. But observers said it remained unclear if these pledges were sufficient to narrow the US$340 billion trade gap and satisfy the Trump administration, which has been politicising Sino-US economic issues.
The latest worries over bilateral tensions have been fuelled by Trump’s appointment of Dennis Shea, a China hawk, as deputy trade representative, and his growing dissatisfaction with Beijing over North Korea, they said.
