Did China’s trade negotiators make promises they couldn’t keep? US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer thinks so
- Official tells House committee he considers ‘some forces in China’ decided that its negotiators ‘went out beyond their mandate’
- But he remains confident talks will resume, has ‘trust and complete good faith’ in his Chinese counterparts
Chinese officials negotiating a trade deal with the United States might have offered concessions beyond their mandate, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Wednesday when questioned about why the talks might have faltered last month.
Asked at a congressional committee meeting in Washington why the Chinese side walked away from the latest negotiations, Lighthizer said: “My speculation is that some forces in China decided that they had gone too far, went out beyond their mandate.”
While he did not elaborate on who those forces might be or what items might have been considered unacceptable, he said he had “trust and complete good faith” in the people he was dealing with.
“My hope is we can get back on track,” he told the US House of Representatives ways and means committee meeting.
Lighthizer said he planned to speak to his opposite number in China to discuss trade issues ahead of the planned meeting between presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan next week.