Donald Trump warned it’s ‘easier to negotiate nuclear weapons’ deals than trade pacts by former White House aide
- Kenneth Lieberthal helped negotiate China’s accession to the World Trade Organisation and also helped defuse tensions after the Belgrade bombing in 1999
- He joins other former negotiators in voicing concern over the chaotic approach adopted by the US president to reaching a deal to end the trade war with China
US President Donald Trump has been warned that “it is easier to negotiate nuclear weapons than it is to negotiate trade”, by a former White House official who was charged with helping defuse tensions with China following the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade over 20 years ago.
The bombing occurred as contentious and prolonged talks over China’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) seemed to be moving towards their conclusion in April 1999.
Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji visited Washington that month, but left without signing a deal. Zhu was subsequently infuriated when an unknown US official posted details of the draft agreement on a US government website – but the situation quickly deteriorated.
“Inevitably, s*** happens. Before we could get a final agreement, let things cool down a bit in Beijing and put Zhu in more of a face-saving position, we accidentally bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, which was totally unexpected in Washington,” said Kenneth Lieberthal, senior director for Asia on the US National Security Council under the Clinton Administration, who helped negotiate China’s entry into the WTO.
“It took a long time to put back together and deeply reduced mutual trust.”
The bombing killed three Chinese journalists during a Nato siege on the Serbian capital in the war over Kosovo’s independence, and led to days of angry protests at American consulate buildings in China and lasting damage to bilateral relations.
