The trade war between the United States and China has possibly been one of the worst global economic crises for a long time and despite months of talks between the two nations; no resolution seems to be forthcoming. This US trade delegation is now in Beijing for another round of talks with its Chinese counterparts, and after that, another round of talks is going to be held in Washington. As has been the case throughout the course of these discussions on a new trade deal, officials are giving out optimistic statements and after the talks on Wednesday; the Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin stated that the talks between the two sides were productive.
The Trade Representative of the United States, Robert Lighthizer and Mnuchin held another intense round of talks with the Chinese delegation, and after that, the Treasury Secretary took to his Twitter account to share his thoughts about the talks. He wrote, “Ambassador Lighthizer and I just concluded productive meetings with China’s Vice Premier Liu He. We will continue our talks in Washington, D.C. next week.” However, no other details were forthcoming from him about the specific issues about which the two sides spoke.
For all intents and purposes, this is the final round of talks before the trade deal is signed and the last round will be held in Washington when the Vice Premier of China Liu He will lead his nation’s delegation. However, it is interesting to note that no one has divulged the nature of the talks that took place in Beijing on Wednesday and even the local Chinese press are in the dark as to what went on at the meeting.
Although Mnuchin has stated that talks were productive, it needs to be kept in mind that both the Chinese and American authorities had consistently stated that talks were progressing well throughout the past few months. However, no deal was eventually completed, and certain sticky issues are probably still proving to be stumbling blocks. One of the biggest issues is to find out a mechanism by way of which the new trade deal becomes entirely enforceable so that China cannot renege on the deal in the future. In addition to that, the schedule as regards to the lifting of tariffs is also an issue. Mnuchin had earlier been asked upon his arrival in China about the enforcement mechanism, but he refused to talk about specifics.
