The U.S. and China have agreed on a plan to “support growth and employment in the United States” which will entail China buying “significantly” more U.S. goods and services, the two countries said in a joint statement Saturday.
Delegations from the two countries met this week to discuss a number of trade issues, including intellectual property protections, and agreed to take “effective measures” to substantially reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China. On the U.S. side was Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. The Chinese delegation was led by State Council Vice Premier Liu He, special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
While both sides agreed the talks were “constructive,” the U.S failed to reach their goal of getting China to agree to a $200 billion cut in the U.S. bilateral trade deficit, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Noticeably missing from the statement were concrete numbers or a mention of a plan to salvage jobs at the Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE Corp., which President Trump vowed last week address with Xi.
Following Trump’s tweet about saving Chinese jobs, Ross suggested on Monday that the administration would address a recently imposed sales ban ZTE separately from a trade dispute between the U.S. and China. The department’s Bureau of Industry and Security in April imposed a seven-year ban on the sale of products or software to ZTE by any U.S. company, asserting that the firm had made false statements to U.S. regulators in the aftermath of sanctions over violations of a U.S. trade embargo against Iran.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., criticized the joint U.S.-China statement Saturday for lacking specifics and a mention of ZTE.
“The key to a strong agreement is protecting our intellectual property here in America and stopping the Chinese from keeping out our best goods until we hand over our trade secrets and know how in such things as required joint ventures. The joint statement has nothing specific on those fronts and no amount of immediate and short term purchases of American goods will make up for that,” Schumer said. “Furthermore, there is no mention of ZTE. If the administration capitulates on ZTE and allows it to continue to exist, even if they are fined — they’ve been fined once already — that will signal to President Xi that we are weak negotiators.”
Trade negotiators from both sides agreed to keep an open dialogue and continue working toward a plan that resolves economic and trade concerns.
