The White House and Beijing have said they are engaged in negotiations over trade, but the current talks are taking place only over the telephone and appear to be limited. There have been no face-to-face meetings in a month, and none are scheduled before a Sept. 1 deadline, when the Trump administration is set to impose new 15% tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods.
“We have no announcements at this time on future travel or meetings,” Jeff Emerson, spokesman for U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, told the Washington Examiner. “Lighthizer’s last meeting in China was July 31.” The White House had previously issued a statement on July 31 that said, “We expect negotiations on an enforceable trade deal to continue in Washington, D.C., in early September.”
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, Beijing’s top negotiator, has not visited the United States since May 11. The visit was notable because he traveled without the title of “special envoy,” which he had in prior visits to the U.S. CNBC cited an anonymous Chinese official who said that the removal of the title reflected that Liu had likely been given less autonomy by Beijing to strike a deal. Prior to that, Liu visited the U.S. in February and March and numerous times in 2018.
There’s just “no substitute” for face-to-face talks in diplomacy, said Gary Locke, who served as commerce secretary and ambassador to China during the Obama administration. “Certainly, if you are dealing with other countries, developing that personal relationship is so important when trying to finalize the details,” he said.
Successful negotiations also require high-level officials to be involved, Locke said. Staff can handle fleshing out the details, but only if a firm agreement was previously reached. “Ultimately, the parties have to get together to go over areas of contention. And there’s no substitute for doing it face-to-face,” he said.
The frequency of telephone conversations also appears to be low. China has disputed recent claims by President Trump on Monday that there were any telephone calls over the weekend. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters Tuesday both sides have not talked since at least last week. “I have not heard of this situation regarding the two calls that the U.S. mentioned in the weekend.”
Communications between the sides are so rare that Trump on Monday cited a public comment by Liu as proof that communications were ongoing. “The vice chairman made the statement that he wants to make a deal, that he wants to see a calm atmosphere. He wants it all to happen. That says it there,” Trump told reporters in France. “You know, you folks were reporting before, ‘Well, we can’t find any phone call.’ He released a statement. I didn’t release it. He released a statement.”
The last face-to-face interaction between the U.S. and China was the July 31 meeting between Lighthizer, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and Liu. The meeting was so unsatisfactory that the following day, Trump announced the U.S. would impose new tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods.
Before then, talks were mainly over the telephone. Any communication between the sides became rare after that. In an Aug. 20 interview on CNBC, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, “I hope the teams get back together in the next week or 10 days, at least by phone and then perhaps in person shortly after that.”
Even after communications resumed, China’s Commerce Ministry issued a public statement on Aug. 13 in which it was careful to say that while talks were ongoing, they were not face-to-face ones. “Both sides agree to talk again on the phone within two weeks,” it said.
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