Getting China-US investment treaty approved will be tough, ambassador Terry Branstad says
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America’s top envoy to China has warned that getting approval – from both sides – for the long-proposed bilateral investment treaty between the United States and China is going to be tough.
The treaty would need a two-thirds majority in the US Senate and getting it approved would be “very difficult”, Terry Branstad said on Wednesday during a panel session at the Fortune Global Forum in the southern city of Guangzhou.
“And if we were able to get all the support of the United States Senate, I can’t imagine it would be approved in China.”
Negotiations for the treaty to ensure equal investment opportunities for both countries – which began in 2008 – have been languishing and the administration of US President Donald Trump has not made a decision as to whether to continue with the talks.
“I think that is the difficulty, that the administration has not made the decision whether to go forward with that. But at this point in time, I think it would be a very difficult task – both to get the agreement with China, but to get the agreement that would be acceptable to get the bipartisan two-thirds majority for confirmation in the United States Senate,” he said.