ExclusiveTrade war: China to travel to US on January 13 to sign phase one deal
- China delegation reschedules US trip after US President Donald Trump unilaterally announced January 15 date for ‘high representatives’ from Beijing to sign deal
- The eagerness from the US president to claim big ‘win’ from the phase one deal contrasts with Beijing’s more measured approach
China’s trade delegation tentatively plans to travel to Washington for four days from January 13 for the signing of the phase one deal that would herald a truce in the costly trade war between the world’s two largest economies, a source briefed on the matter has told the South China Morning Post.
While the two sides had been expected to wrap up their phase one negotiations by January, the Chinese side had not expected Trump to make a unilateral announcement about the date, or to say that he would be willing to sign the deal -even if President Xi Jinping was not available.
After a full afternoon’s discussion, the Chinese side decided to revise their plan to accommodate Trump, and will return to China on January 16, although Washington and Beijing have yet to officially confirm Liu’s visit.
The back-and-forth in nailing down details of the signing ceremony reflects the differences in how Beijing and Washington view the deal.
Trump is trying to take full credit for the phase one deal as a major “win” for the US and for himself, but the Chinese, although eager to sign the deal to ensure stability, have been less inclined to make a major show of it.
A person in Washington who is familiar with the bilateral relationship said the change was understandable given Trump’s desire to get political capital from the China deal.
“I can’t think of a single instance where Trump, if he can get credit, didn’t take it,” the person, who declined to be named, said. “It was always going to be the case that Trump would decide how the thing’s presented and where and what his role is … and the Chinese would obviously defer to that.”