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Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He will be on the call, according to people familiar with the matter. The US will be represented by US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer (left), one of the people said. Photo: AFP
EconomyGlobal Economy

US-China trade chiefs to have call as Donald Trump and coronavirus threaten phase one deal

  • Vice-Premier Liu He and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will hold a call as early as next week, Bloomberg reported
  • First call since phase one trade deal was signed in January comes after US President Donald Trump threatened to scrap the accord
US-China trade war
Bloomberg
Bloomberg
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Top Chinese and US trade negotiators will speak as soon as next week on progress in implementing a phase one deal after US President Donald Trump threatened to “terminate” the agreement if Beijing was not adhering to the terms.

Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He will be on the call, according to people familiar with the matter. The US will be represented by US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer, one of the people said.

The planned phone call will be the first time Liu and Lighthizer speak officially about the agreement since it was signed in January, just before the global coronavirus pandemic hit the world’s two biggest economies and upended global supply chains. The deal called for Liu and Lighthizer to meet every six months, making next week’s call slightly ahead of schedule.
Trump also seemed to suggest a development was on the horizon when he told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that he would be able to report in the next week or two if he is happy with how the trade deal is progressing.

On Sunday, in response to a question at a town hall from a business owner who said he was losing money on the tariffs, Trump noted that the duties prompted China to promise to buy US$250 billion worth of US goods.

“Now they have to buy,” the president said. “And if they do not buy, we’ll terminate the deal, very simple.”

According to the text of the agreement signed earlier this year, China has agreed to buy an additional US$200 billion in US goods and services over two years compared with 2017’s level.

The purchases so far have been behind the pace needed to reach the target of the first year’s US$76.7 billion increase, as imports from the US declined by 5.9 per cent in the first four months of 2020 from a year ago due to the coronavirus outbreak. Given that the imports in 2019 were smaller than 2017, the pressure to catch up is mounting.

Beijing plans to show the US it is sincerely working to fulfil its commitments despite the virus causing delays to some targets, one of the people said. For example, some measures that boost enforcement of intellectual property protection need to be approved by the annual National People’s Congress, which was postponed from March to later this month.

China’s Commerce Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the talks. The USTR’s office also did not respond to emailed questions sent after normal business hours.

Relations between the US and China have deteriorated further since America became one of the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus.

Trump has blamed China for misleading the world about the scale and risk of the disease, and even threatened more tariffs as punishment. China’s foreign ministry has in turn accused some US officials of trying “to shift their own responsibility for their poor handling of the epidemic to others”.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Negotiators to discuss US-China trade deal
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