US-China trade war: Beijing pushes Washington for tariff cuts

China has pushed the US to cut the tariffs which Washington imposed on its trade. Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng told the media on November 14 that the tariff cut is an important condition for the agreement that is part of talks between the countries. American negotiators agreed to roll back penalties imposed in September on $112 billion of Chinese imports claimed Beijing in a statement last week. It was dismissed by Donald Trump a day later which created chaos in global markets. Yet the US President decided to postpone a planned tariff hike on $250 billion of Chinese goods after announcing the Phase 1 agreement on October 12. Financial officials from both countries have been negotiating the details of the agreement since then.

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Gao said at a news briefing on Thursday that the trade war started with the imposition of tariffs, and it should also end with the abolition of tariffs. This is an important condition for the two sides to reach an agreement, he added. Gao also informed that the negotiators are discussing this in-depth.

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Analysts doubt over the settlement of trade disputes

Though the October 12 agreement was not released publicly, reports suggest that it doesn’t address basic disputes about trade, Chinese industrial subsidies, and technology policy. Analysts are doubtful over any deal and suggest that the two countries might not come to a deal. At the same time, Asian stock markets fell after reports that the Chinese negotiators were reluctant to commit to a financial figure for purchases of American farm goods. Though Chinese officials have never confirmed, Trump said Beijing would buy up to $50 billion worth soybeans and other American farm goods.

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China will continue to do what it was doing: Analysts

Trump administration has been asking China to curb massive subsidies to state-owned firms and end the forced transfer of American technology to Chinese firms as a price of doing business in China. The phase 1 deal fails to address the aforementioned issue of industrial subsidies and rather focuses on Chinese purchases of US farm goods and intellectual property protection related to copyright and trademark issues said trade analysts to media. Charles Boustany, a former congressman from Louisiana and counselor at the National Bureau of Asian Research, said that China will anyway continue to do what it's doing and the deal will just be the status quo. Moreover, inconsistencies in China’s new foreign investment law will fail to fulfill the benefits of increased access to China’s financial services market, they added. 

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