US negotiator Robert Lighthizer says ‘I don’t know what the end goal is’ in trade war with China
- ‘That’s a damning admission and confirms the suspicion of many that the Trump administration’s trade policy is all tactics and no strategy,’ analyst responds
- The two-year trade war has involved hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs and been a financial burden to farmers and consumers
America’s top trade negotiator says he doesn’t know what the end game is with China amid a two-year trade war involving hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs and untold costs to farmers and consumers.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, speaking on Thursday, also defended what critics have characterised as America’s blunt, counterproductive and tariff-obsessed trade policy, arguing that the administration’s uncompromising stance toward China has been effective and overdue.
“I don’t know what the end goal is,” Lighthizer said at an event sponsored by London-based Chatham House. “Right now we need to stop an aggressive force.”
“We have to figure out new rules – what phase one is is an attempt to find those kinds of rules – and these are setting aside all the aggression in India and in Hong Kong,” he added.
In recent days, Chinese forces have clashed with Indian troops along their disputed border and Beijing has enacted a tough national security law in Hong Kong that critics fear will squelch free speech and peaceful assembly.