Huawei ‘distrust’ and ‘irrational’ US trade war slammed by leading Chinese academic
- Trade war is ‘inevitable’ and will be long and drawn-out, says Zhang Yansheng, the chief research fellow at the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges
- Chief financial officer at the Chinese technology giant, Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, was arrested in Canada in December and is fighting extradition to the US
As top level negotiators try to thrash out a deal to end the trade war between China and the United States, a leading Chinese government academic has predicted that the “irrational” conflict will be long and protracted.
China’s Vice-Premier Liu He is currently in the US, where he is expected to meet President Donald Trump on Thursday, in a break from negotiations with the top US trade official, Robert Lighthizer.
Liu is attempting to bring an end to a tit-for-tat trade war that has been waged since July 2018, with the US demanding that China opens its economy to foreign companies, reduce its trade deficit with the US and that it treats foreign companies operating in China fairly.
As well as slapping tariffs on billions worth of Chinese exports - which have been reciprocated in part by Beijing – Trump has demanded an end to forced technology transfer and intellectual property theft.
If these issues are not judged to have been addressed by March 1, tariffs on US$250 billion of Chinese goods will increase from 10 per cent to 25 per cent the following day.
