The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office announced Friday that a half-dozen administration officials would be heading to China Monday to set up the preliminaries for future trade policy talks. Top trade policy officials like Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will not be talking part in the delegation.
The terse statement by the office announced a list of deputy and undersecretary officials who would form “an official delegation from the United States to China to discuss the trade relationship between the two countries.” Talks between higher-level officials are expected later this month.
The officials heading to China are:
- Ambassador Jeffrey Gerrish, deputy U.S. trade representative
- Ambassador Gregg Doud, USTR chief agricultural negotiator
- Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney, Department of Agriculture
- Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade Gilbert Kaplan, Department of Commerce
- Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Steven Winberg, Department of Energy
- Undersecretary for International Affairs David Malpass, Department of the Treasury
The Trump administration has set a March 1 deadline to reach a deal with China or else it will increase tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods to 25 percent, up from 10 percent. It has tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods in total. China has responded with tariffs on $120 billion of U.S. goods.
Both sides are under pressure to reach a deal. Apple’s surprise announcement Wednesday that it was downgrading its first quarter earnings for the year due to the impact the trade war is having on China showed that the economic damage is hitting both nations, though the Trump administration argues China is under greater pressure.
President Trump defended the tariffs in a tweet Thursday. “The United States Treasury has taken in MANY billions of dollars from the Tariffs we are charging China and other countries that have not treated us fairly. In the meantime we are doing well in various Trade Negotiations currently going on. At some point this had to be done!” he said.
