Donald Trump urged by former US official to include allies in US-China trade war deal
- Former deputy acting US trade representative Wendy Cutler credits Trump’s tariffs with ‘bringing China to the negotiating table’
- To get maximum benefit from trade deal with China, Trump should include allies like the European Union and Japan in negotiations, Cutler said
The United States risks losing the spoils of the trade war if it does not include long-standing allies in a deal with China, according to a former senior US trade official.
Wendy Cutler, who was acting deputy US trade representative during the Obama administration, urged US President Donald Trump to forget his “preference for unilateral actions” and work with the European Union, Japan and other allied nations in a bid extract maximum benefit from trade talks with China.
“While the US market accounts for roughly 18 per cent of Chinese exports, that number reaches 40 per cent when including the EU and Japan, and half of all Chinese exports if Australia, Canada, Mexico, and South Korea – countries that share American concerns – are included,” Cutler wrote in a report for the Asia Society Policy Institute, where she is vice-president.
“While the United States has been at the forefront of criticising these policies and practices, they also impact China’s other trading partners, distorting trade flows and straining the global trading system,” the report said.