Advertisement
Advertisement
US-China trade war
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Negotiating teams meeting at the White House in Washington ahead of trade talks in February. Photo: Reuters

Exclusive | China and US negotiating teams scramble to make a plan for Xi Jinping and Donald Trump’s G20 Osaka summit

  • China, US trade teams may meet in Osaka as early as Tuesday, sources say, while top negotiators are set to speak on the phone ahead of the trip
  • Negotiators have not spoken since the talks collapsed in early May but a call between Xi and Trump confirmed the meeting in Japan

US and Chinese trade negotiators are scrambling to put a plan together, as they look to ease trade tensions ahead of President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump’s meeting in Osaka, Japan, next week.

Negotiating teams – led by United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on the US side and Vice-Premier Liu He on the Chinese side – are expected to meet in Osaka as early as next Tuesday, three days before the start of the G20 leaders’ summit, to prepare for the high-stakes Xi-Trump meeting, according to a source who was briefed on the situation but declined to be named.

The trade negotiators have not talked in the six weeks since the talks collapsed in early May. However, a phone conversation between Xi and Trump on Tuesday, during which the two confirmed their meeting in Osaka, has rekindled the process.

Lighthizer said on Wednesday that he would have a phone conversation with his Chinese counterparts “in the next day and a half”, then fly to Osaka with Mnuchin to meet the Chinese delegation before the Trump-Xi summit. He did not elaborate on the timing of the call or the meeting.

United States trade representative Robert Lighthizer testifies during the Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said at a news conference in Beijing on Thursday that in their talk the lead negotiators on both sides would follow up on the decisions made by Xi and Trump, but he did not provide further details.

“Trade negotiators from both sides will make preparations for the two state leaders’ summit in Osaka,” Gao said. “We believe the two sides will definitely find a solution through dialogue on an equal footing and looking after each others’ concerns.”

Such an arrangement would be similar to the situation ahead of the Xi-Trump meeting at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, late last year. Negotiators held trade talks on the sidelines and worked out proposals, including a three-month trade war truce, for the two leaders to endorse at their sit-down dinner on December 1.

However, the two sides failed at that time to reach a deal to end the trade war, though they did agree to extend the original deadline before an increase in US tariffs.

Eleven rounds of talks have brought both sides close to consensus on most parts of a deal, it is believed, but the remaining differences will be difficult to resolve.

When the trade talks collapsed in early May, Washington blamed Beijing for reneging on promises it had made earlier, while Beijing responded that the US was asking too much from China and said that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”.

The coming summit between Trump and Xi offers a chance for trade negotiators to revisit the remaining gaps for a possible compromise, analysts said.

Huo Jianguo, the former head of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, a think tank under China’s Ministry of Commerce, said the two sides must work together to make any breakthrough because there is little room for either Beijing or Washington to step back.

US sanctions over Xinjiang said ‘ready to go’ except for Treasury hold-up

“It is time for the US to make adjustments, otherwise it will be difficult to make real progress,” Huo said.

An editorial in Global Times, a state-run newspaper affiliated with People’s Daily, argued on Wednesday that China must dig in on its positions.

China’s Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Gao Feng (seen on June 13) has said preparations are in progress for the summit. Photo: Xinhua

“If China wants to see a good result in trade talks, it must not be afraid of a trade war and be resolute in holding to its positions,” the article read.

Trade will be one of the central themes for Trump and Xi when the two meet. Trump said after Tuesday’s phone call with Xi that a deal is possible. “I think we have a chance. I know that China wants to make a deal. They do not like the tariffs,” he told reporters.

Ding Shuang, chief China economist at Standard Chartered in Hong Kong, wrote in a research note this week that the two sides “appear to have reached an understanding on 90 per cent of the issues after 11 rounds of talks” and it “will require more political will than time” to resolve the remaining differences.

Sign up to our China at a Glance newsletter and you'll receive an exclusive 3-day G20 news package in collaboration with POLITICO (coverage from 28-30 June)
Post