Ћина-Средње Краљевство

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US demands China cut trade deficit by $200bn

New target doubles amount Donald Trump previously asked of Beijing

Gabriel Wildau in Beijing 31 minutes ago


The US has demanded that China slash tariffs, reduce the bilateral trade deficit and eliminate state subsidies for strategic industries, as Washington staked out a hardline position in negotiations that concluded in Beijing on Friday.

The delegation, led by Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, demanded that China narrow the countries’ bilateral trade deficit by $200bn by 2020, apparently referring to both trade of goods and services. The US’s trade and services deficit with China was $337bn last year, according to US data.

The target represents a doubling of a previous White House demand that China cut the bilateral deficit by $100bn.

The negotiators also asked that Beijing cut import tariffs to levels at or below those imposed by the US on the same goods from China.

The proposal further calls on Beijing to eliminate all subsidies linked to its “ Made in China 2025 ” industrial policy. The plan is designed to promote Chinese leadership in advanced industries including robotics, aerospace and electric vehicles.

The document also requested that Beijing remove investment restrictions affecting foreign companies operating in China, including caps on foreign equity ownership of locally incorporated groups.

Washington insists that intellectual property theft, forced technology transfers and joint-venture requirements affecting foreign investment amount to a systematic effort to erode US leadership in strategic sectors.

The revelations dispel concerns that internal divisions among President Donald Trump’s advisers have prevented the formulation of a coherent set of demands.

The group’s unusually large size had been seen as a sign of such divisions, according to analysts. The delegation included seven senior officials, including commerce secretary Wilbur Ross, US trade representative Robert Lighthizer, and White House trade and manufacturing adviser Peter Navarro.

Despite the demands, the talks appeared to have produced no breakthroughs. China’s official Xinhua news agency reported that the two countries “reached some consensus” on expanded US exports to China, bilateral investment, and bilateral services trade but that “rather large differences” remain on some issues.

In a speech last month, President Xi Jinping said China “does not seek” trade surpluses and would “take the initiative” to expand imports.

But Chinese officials and experts have said that significant reductions in the bilateral deficit would require easing US restrictions on high-tech exports and building new infrastructure to support US exports of coal and natural gas.

Both sides had sought to temper expectations for a quick agreement. In an editorial on Friday, the state-run China Daily wrote that recent escalation over “niggly” differences suggest “how difficult it will be for the two sides to walk away happy”.

The nationalist Global Times, which represents the hawkish end of Chinese government thinking, struck a similar tone.

“Since both sides have their bottom lines to keep, it may be hard to reach a deal, but it is good to start somewhere,” the paper wrote in an editorial on Thursday.

In recent weeks, China has announced steps to remove barriers to foreign investment in financial services and auto manufacturing.

But executives said these moves would have a limited impact given that China’s domestic financial institutions now hold powerful incumbent positions, while global automakers cannot easily exit from existing joint ventures.

Gargantua wrote:S tim da nemačka auto-industrija ne determiniše nemačku spoljnu politiku; štaviše, očekivanja da će ona da efektivno lobira u korist mekanog odnosa prema Rusiji (zbog izvoza i dilova koje tamo ima) od 2014. i prema UK oko bregzita su se pokazala neopravdanim. Dodati na to i one "skandale" sa dizelima itd. i može se reći da ona nije u poziciji da uspešno lobira da njen uski interes natkrivi sve ostalo, a to je pre svega nemački odnos prema SAD i shvaćenoj transatlantskoj "solidarnosti". Sitnije mere da, strateški korak u korist Kine - teško.

Gargantua wrote:Dobro, kako i gde je auto-industrija odredila nemačku spoljnu politiku, u prilikama kada se nešto lomi/odlučuje?

Dadoh ti dva najsvežija primera gde je bilo baš suprotno.

The German automobile industry is exerting massive pressure to keep the United Kingdom in the customs union.

China's ZTE may be first major casualty of trade war with US

Company ceases sales and workers take naps after US bans American firms from selling hardware and software to the telecom equipment maker

Lily Kuo
Thu 10 May 2018 06.34 BST


ZTE, one of the world’s largest telecom equipment makers, may be the first major casualty of a trade war brewing between China and the US.

The Shenzhen-based company said it had ceased “major operating activities”, in a filing late on Wednesday to the Hong Kong stock exchange. The announcement comes less than a month after the US banned American firms from selling hardware and software to ZTE for seven years, effectively cutting off the company’s supply chain.

ZTE said in its filing it maintains “sufficient cash” and is “actively communicating” with the US for a modification or reversal of the order, issued by the US commerce department over violations of a previous settlement regarding illegal sales of ZTE phones and equipment to Iran.


ZTE, known in China as Zhongxing, or “China prospers”, operates in Africa, the Middle East and the US, where it is the fourth-largest smartphone maker after Apple, Samsung and LG. It depends on US parts: chips made from California-based Qualcomm account for more than half of its phones shipped globally and almost all of its phones in the US, according to Counterpoint.

“The impact is huge. Without US providers, they cannot actually produce their phones,” said Flora Tang, a research analyst at Counterpoint Research in Hong Kong.

On Thursday, online ZTE stores on its website and major e-commerce platforms were “under construction”. The company’s official channel on Tmall, owned by Alibaba, carried a photo of shirtless men rowing a dragon boat and the phrase “Spring is used for struggle”, a slogan Chinese president Xi Jinping once used in a speech in 2013.

According to reports, workers at the company’s headquarters in Shenzhen are reporting to work but “with not much to do”. Factory workers told the New York Times manufacturing had been shuttered. Instead, workers have been attending training sessions, napping, or hanging out in their dormitories.

ZTE products were still on sale on smaller e-commerce platforms such as JD.com, and in offline retail stores.

The ban on ZTE, one of China’s first telecom companies to succeed internationally, is also a sign of how deeply entrenched frictions between the US and China are amid an ongoing trade dispute. China’s ministry of commerce said officials made “solemn representations” on behalf of ZTE during trade talks in Beijing last week with a visiting US delegation but they yielded few results.

“It could be a national-level problem ... we expected the Chinese government would be able to help ZTE, so it’s a surprise,” said Tang.

Last month UK warned business not to use ZTE equipment or services as it would have a “long term negative effect on the security of the UK," and UK's Cyber security chief warned "the use of ZTE equipment or services would present risk to UK national security that could not be mitigated effectively or practicably."

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