PoliticoSome in US fear Donald Trump will settle for a weak trade deal with China
- Some advisers and lawmakers fear Trump will settle for a weaker trade deal with China to avoid tanking the financial markets
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Doug Palmer on politico.com on February 26, 2019.
US President Donald Trump’s potential trade deal with China might temporarily soothe relations between the world’s two largest economies without actually tackling the big issues that drove Trump to impose duties.
Trump on Monday announced that the two nations were getting “very, very close” to a deal and said Chinese negotiators would be returning to Washington for additional talks before he and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet to sign a pact.
Those remarks came a day after the president said he’d delay plans to raise tariffs on US$200 billion in Chinese goods if there’s no deal by March 2.
That’s raising fears among some advisers and lawmakers who support a tough position on China that Trump’s ready to settle for a weaker deal to avoid tanking the financial markets, which have been volatile as he ramped up tariff threats.
The final deal needs to contain structural changes and enforcement mechanisms or else China “will continue cheating and stealing our IP/trade secrets,” Grassley said.