• News
  • Sport
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Education
  • TV Licences
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION
Home World

US, China wrap up trade talks after Trump tweetstorm

31 July 2019, 11:00 AM  |
AFP AFP |  @SABCNews
Washington and Beijing have so far hit each other with punitive tariffs covering more than $360 billion in two-way trade in a row centred on demands for China to curb the alleged theft of American technology.

Washington and Beijing have so far hit each other with punitive tariffs covering more than $360 billion in two-way trade in a row centred on demands for China to curb the alleged theft of American technology.

Image: Reuters

Washington and Beijing have so far hit each other with punitive tariffs covering more than $360 billion in two-way trade in a row centred on demands for China to curb the alleged theft of American technology.

Chinese and United States (US) negotiators held their first face-to-face talks Wednesday since agreeing to a trade war truce last month but the short meeting in Shanghai was overshadowed by a Twitter tirade from President Donald Trump.

Washington and Beijing have so far hit each other with punitive tariffs covering more than $360 billion in two-way trade in a row centred on demands for China to curb the alleged theft of American technology and provide a level playing field to US companies.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with Vice Premier Liu He Wednesday morning.

The group then went behind closed doors for around four hours in the first face-to-face negotiations since Trump agreed to a truce with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in June following a breakdown a month earlier.

The talks were relatively brief and the group emerged later, a little earlier than expected, for a group photo before the US trade officials left for the airport without speaking to reporters.

Lighthizer and Mnuchin arrived in Shanghai on Tuesday and joined Chinese officials for dinner and informal discussions, just as Trump took to Twitter to lambast what he said was a lack of willingness by Beijing to broker a fair deal.

“My team is negotiating with them now, but they always change the deal in the end to their benefit,” Trump wrote Tuesday.

This time the US leader said Beijing was supposed to start buying US agricultural products but they have shown “no signs that they are doing so”.

“That is the problem with China, they just don’t come through,” he added.

Trump had previously accused China of reneging on its commitments when previous talks broke down in May.

Analysts said his remarks would do little to ease the already-tense relationship between Washington and Beijing.

“Whatever shred of optimism markets had about the ongoing trade negotiations were dealt as a severe blow when President Trump flew off the handle again,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at VM Markets Singapore.

“(The tweets show) Trump seems eager to get a deal, that shows his weakness,” said Shanghai-based professor Shen Dingli.

A commentary in the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily on Wednesday, while not mentioning Trump by name, complained that as the talks started, “the drums of some Americans struck again on the side, disturbing the main melody”.

Days before the Shanghai meeting, Trump threatened to pull recognition of China’s developing nation status at the World Trade Organization, which Beijing called “arrogance”.

Expectations were already low before the talks, although and analysts predicted that little of substance would be announced.

“The short duration of the current meeting to me suggests that this is exploratory,” said J. Michael Cole, a Taipei-based senior fellow with the Global Taiwan Institute in Washington.

“It signals that no major breakthroughs are expected and that the expectations of achievements are modest at best.”

Officials on both sides were keeping a low profile throughout their Shanghai trip.

US trade negotiators entered and left their hotel on Shanghai’s waterfront through side doors without going through public areas, and did not stop to speak to the press or show their faces.

Trump said last week he believed Beijing was hoping to delay a deal until after the US presidential election in November 2020, saying China wanted to see if a Democratic opponent wins the vote so it could “continue to rip off the USA”.

“He (Trump) can’t afford politically to step up and say ‘I made a great deal with China’ when it’s not a great deal,” said Derek M. Scissors, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

“So the most likely outcome is we get nothing until the election.”

However, the trade war is taking its toll on both sides.

In a report published Wednesday in official news agency Xinhua, The Political Bureau of China’s Central Committee warned of “new risks and increasing downward pressure” on the Chinese economy.

Share article
Tags: TariffsUnited StatesChinaTradeTechnologyDonald Trump
Previous Post

2pm deadline to submit documents in Gauteng online applications

Next Post

Ethiopian migrants die of hunger and thirst in stranded boat

Related Posts

Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr Naledi Pandor co-chairing the 15th South Africa–European Union Ministerial Political Dialogue with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy, Mr. Josep Borrell.

EU pledges its support for South Africa’s transition to greener, cleaner energy

27 January 2023, 5:13 PM
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban attends a media briefing in Budapest, Hungary, December 21, 2022.

Hungary will veto EU sanctions on Russian on nuclear energy: PM Orban

27 January 2023, 10:12 AM
Advocate Mojankunyane Gumbi  is currently the Chancellor of the University of Venda

Venda University VC named UN special adviser on racism in workplace

26 January 2023, 10:16 PM
Missiles traces are seen in a sky, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Donbas region, Ukraine January 25, 2023. REUTERS/Oleksandr Ratushniak

Russia unleashes missiles at Ukraine after Kyiv secures tanks

26 January 2023, 5:35 PM
[file photo] A man stands outside of his tent during a period of cold weather

More than 160 Afghans die in bitterly cold weather

26 January 2023, 3:16 PM
[File Image]; Migrants stand onboard a fishing boat at the port of Paleochora, following a rescue operation off the island of Crete, Greece, November 22, 2022.

EU wants to send more people back to Africa, Middle East, Asia

26 January 2023, 12:47 PM
Next Post
A boat used by migrants is seen near the western town of Sabratha.

Ethiopian migrants die of hunger and thirst in stranded boat

Most Viewed

  • 24hrs
  • Week
  • Month
  • Parts of the Northern Cape to be exempted from rolling blackouts
  • Remedial programme reinstated to fight Hyacinth plants at Hartbeespoort Dam
  • Northern Cape’s Kakamas to be exempted from blackouts
  • Zuma joins AmaZulu King in commemorating the Battle of Isandlwana
  • Scorcher predicted in Northern Cape for two weeks
  • Parts of the Northern Cape to be exempted from rolling blackouts
  • VIDEO | St Benedict College’s Matric learner gets 11 distinctions
  • Limpopo matriculant from child-headed household attains diploma pass
  • Female circumcision practice thriving in Eastern Cape
  • Babes Wodumo breaks her silence at Mampintsha’s funeral
  • AG’s report points to billions of irregular expenditure in City of Tshwane
  • Diepsloot residents block N14 highway
  • LIVE: City of Joburg Council elects new mayor
  • Al Jamah’s Thapelo Amad touted to be Joburg’s new mayor
  • Public Protector’s office finalising preliminary Phala Phala report

LATEST

  • Politics

LIVE | Malema addresses EFF leadership


A sign against child abuse.
  • South Africa

IPID investigates case of mother-child rape video


The logo of the US Central Intelligence Agency is shown in the lobby of the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
  • Sci-tech

Russia blocks CIA, FBI websites for ‘spreading false information’: TASS


[File Image] : Bayern Munich's Leroy Sane celebrates scoring
  • Sport

Bayern’s Gnabry on the bench against Frankfurt after turbulent week


  • Lifestyle

LIVE | 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day celebrates its 9th anniversary


Hands sign language circle 'I love you'.
  • Lifestyle

Sign language closer to becoming SA’s 12th official language


Weather

  • About the SABC
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • Advertise
  • Disclaimer
  • Site Map

SABC © 2022

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION

© 2022

Previous 2pm deadline to submit documents in Gauteng online applications
Next A boat used by migrants is seen near the western town of Sabratha. Ethiopian migrants die of hunger and thirst in stranded boat