US-China trade war ‘truce’ should be used to find long-term solution to disputes, experts say

Establishing a framework for future trade relations is more important than China simply promising to buy more US goods, according to a former senior Chinese official, but US business leaders said Beijing would not be allowed to drag its feet in coming up with a deal to please Washington.

At their meeting in Buenos Aires over the weekend, officials from the two countries agreed to a 90-day “truce” in their trade war. While the agreement includes a ban on any additional tariffs being imposed in the period, the White House remains adamant that Beijing must deliver on its demands for concessions on a range of issues, including forced technology transfers and cyber intrusions, and level the playing field for American businesses, once it expires.

Wei Jianguo, a former Chinese vice-minister of commerce, said 90 days would not be sufficient to resolve all of the contentious trade issues, but would give Beijing enough time to draw up plans and proposals for the short, medium and long term.

“We can establish a framework based on the consensus reached between the two leaders,” he said. “This is very important, and more important than spending trillions of dollars buying US products.”

Derek Scissors, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, said the US would be seeking changes that went beyond trade issues when a delegation of about 30 Chinese officials visited Washington in the coming weeks as a follow-up to the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump in Argentina.

“It’s difficult to imagine what China can do in 90 days,” Scissors said. “Even immediate purchases of commodities will barely touch the bilateral trade deficit in so short a time. More pledges of future changes to industrial policy and IP protection will not be believed.