The corporate media will never admit it, but President Trump has masterfully lined-up support for America’s pressure on China, and China has blinked and now wants “calm” talks. Reuters reports:
China is willing to resolve its trade dispute with the United States through “calm” negotiations and resolutely opposes the escalation of the conflict, Vice Premier Liu He, who has been leading the talks with Washington, said on Monday. (snip)
Liu, speaking at a tech conference in southwest China’s Chongqing, said nobody benefited from a trade war.
“We are willing to resolve the issue through consultations and cooperation in a calm attitude and resolutely oppose the escalation of the trade war,” Liu, who is President Xi Jinping’s top economic adviser, said, according to a government transcript.
“We believe that the escalation of the trade war is not beneficial for China, the United States, nor to the interests of the people of the world,” he added.
U.S. companies are especially welcome in China, and will be treated well, Liu said.
Now that supply chains are rapidly shifting out of China, throwing millions out of work there, China sees the wisdom of “welcoming” US companies. But it is not Chinese hospitality that is at issue, it is the intellectual property theft, currency manipulation, and barriers to US exports that US tariff and trade policy are now retaliating against. Those will not go away until China takes enforceable steps to play by the same rules other OECD members observe.
Speaking to reporters at the G-7 conference in France, President Trump acknowledged the Chinese move:
"We've got two calls, very, very good calls, very productive calls," Trump told reporters. "They mean business."
Using his habitual technique, Trump once again lauded Xi personally as he turns the screw tighter on the Chinese economy:
“I have great respect for the fact that China called and they want to make a deal," Trump said, during a G-7 meeting in which allies have pressured the U.S. to ease up on the trade war with China. "I have great respect for President Xi.”
Now, Xi has to sell concessions to his own hardliners in the Chinese Politburo. Dictator though he is, Xi knows well that his hold on power is not absolute. Trump is playing him like a fiddle.
By Thomas Lifson 
An announcement from China on Saturday, pledging a full economic war against the United States, will likely not come as a surprise for most CTH readers. However, it does serve as emphasis for our 2017 statement: “prepare your affairs accordingly“…
When we followed up a few months later with the warning:
“There is no upper limit to the level of economic pain Team U.S.A. (America First) is willing to inflict upon China. There is no ending perimeter of action too far for President Trump to travel. Trump will battle his adversary far beyond traditional horizons and will follow them in retreat if that’s what it takes to ensure the safety of the our economic nation.”
Those words were not written lightly. We accept Trump’s history; we accept three decades of his expressed intent on these issues; and we also accept the historic and cultural position of China which takes us into this conflict. From Beijing today:
China on Saturday said it would continue fighting the trade war with the US “until the end” after the two sides slapped further tariffs on each other’s goods.
The commerce ministry issued a statement calling on Washington not to “misjudge the situation and underestimate the determination of Chinese people” after US President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on Chinese imports. “The US should immediately stop its wrong action, or it will have to bear all consequences,” the statement said.
An earlier commentary from Taoran Notes, a social media account affiliated with official newspaper Economic Daily, said China’s countermeasures were akin to a “precision instrument”, targeting industries such as US soybeans, crude oil and cars. (read more)
During an oval office press conference on Tuesday Aug. 20,, President Trump took several questions about China and the U.S. trade confrontation. After receiving the third question, on the same subject, President Trump paused and then went deep into the heart of the issue.
The question was:” Mr. President, you keep insisting that your trade war with China — the trade war with China is not affecting the U.S. economy. But a lot of economists disagree with that. And they worry that if China goes into a recession, they’ll pull us down with it.”
[Transcript] … PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well — well, okay. Let me — let me tell you something. Number one, we’re doing very well as an economy. But somebody had to take China on. You know, I read and I see so much and I read so much, and I’ll see these economists saying, “Oh, give up. Give up on China. Give up.”
China has been ripping this country off for 25 years — for longer than that. And it’s about time, whether it’s good for our country or bad for our country short term. Long term, it’s imperative that somebody does this because our country cannot continue to pay China $500 billion a year because stupid people are running it.
. So I don’t mind this question.
. Whether it’s good or bad, short term, is irrelevant.
. We have to solve the problem with China because they’re taking out $500 billion a year-plus. And that doesn’t include intellectual property theft and other things. And also, national security.
. So, I am doing this whether it’s good or bad for your — your statement about, “Oh, will we fall into a recession for two months?” Okay? The fact is, somebody had to take China on.
. My life would be a lot easier if I didn’t take China on. But I like doing it because I have to do it. And we’re getting great results.
. China has had the worst year they’ve had in 27 years. And a lot of people are saying the worst year they’ve had in 54 years. Okay? And frankly, I don’t want that to happen, but it does put us in a good negotiating position, doesn’t it? And China wants to make a deal, and that’s good. But they have to make a deal that’s fair to us. It can’t be a deal that’s not fair to us.
And you should be happy that I’m fighting this and I’m fighting this battle, because somebody had to do it. We couldn’t let this go — I don’t even think it’s sustainable to let go on what was happening.
They were stealing all of our intellectual property ideas. The theft was incredible. They call it “intellectual property theft.” And they value it at $300 billion a year. Who knows how they value it? I know how to value dollars; I don’t know how to value intellectual property theft. But they have experts that say it’s at least $300 billion a year, where they steal it.
Somebody had to do something with China.
Obama should have done it.
Bush should have done it.
Clinton should have done it.
They all should have done it. Nobody did it .. I’m doing it.
So what do you say? “Oh, my trade deals are causing them.” My trade deals aren’t causing a problem. This is something that had to be done. The only difference is I’m doing it.
I could be sitting here right now with a stock market that would be up 10,000 points higher if I didn’t want to do it. But I think we have no choice but to do it. And a lot of people that really know, people that love our country, they’re saying, “Thank you very much for taking it on.” And we’re winning because they’re having the worst year they’ve had in decades. And it’s only going to get worse.
China has lost 2 million jobs in the last month and a half because they’re moving — the people, the companies are moving to non-tariffed countries. They’ve lost over 2 million jobs in a very short period of time. They’re going to lose a lot more jobs. And if I didn’t help certain companies — there are American companies like Apple — for a very short period of time, I may help them, only until they do what they have to do, which is probably move from China. Because this would be a very short term. If I didn’t help them, they would — I mean, they would be — they would have a big problem.
Here’s the thing: Somebody had to take on what China was doing to the United States economically. We’re winning big. I took it on. And it should have been done by previous Presidents, but I took it on. And I’m happy to do it because it had to be done. And the smart people say, “Thank you very much.” And the dumb people have no idea. And then you have the political people, and they go with the wind.
But they all know — even Senator Schumer said, “Wow, Trump is doing a great job with China.” I couldn’t believe that. But Schumer thinks I’m doing the right thing. And he’s doing the right thing by saying it because he knows that China was a big economic threat. And they were taking all of that money that they were making from us, and they were building planes and ships and lots of other things. And we can’t let that happen.
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Currency manipulation, intellectual property theft and forced technology transfers for U.S. companies in joint ventures with Chinese companies.
U.S.-China trade war developments have roiled markets for more than a year, and there have been signs the rafts of additional tariffs from both sides are having real effects on economies around the world. Click HERE to read more
- The reforms within the original agreement were antithetical to Beijing. Chairman Xi Jinping and the communist politburo rejected them.
- For Beijing the compliance and enforcement sections within the agreement were too severe and did not allow China to retain control over the trade terms. The agreement was rejected.
- As a consequence it’s not a matter of “if” Trump will apply more tariffs; it is a matter of “when” will Trump apply the tariffs.
- That said, there’s no duplicity in the U.S. Position. Mnuchin and Lighthizer are earnestly working in good faith; but President Trump is expecting ‘no deal’.
Secretary Wilbur Ross was very insightful last week when he also spoke of the current U.S. perspective toward the U.S-China trade negotiation.
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