Trump Puts His Foot Down After Meeting with Chinese Leaders, Reminds Americans Who's in Charge
President Donald Trump expects a trade deal with the Chinese soon — but not, he says, before he irons out some very serious issues.
Speaking at the White House before he departed on Marine One, Trump told reporters that a meeting with a Chinese delegation “was a big success.”
“I think we’re going to have a — look, we have a very good relationship. We’re going to see,” Trump said.
“I don’t want to predict a deal or not a deal But we’re very well along. We’ve really negotiated probably the two hardest points very successfully for our country.”
President Trump: “The China meeting was a big success… China understands — you know China has taken advantage of our country for 30 years and we can’t do that anymore. Not with me.” pic.twitter.com/tvqeRja7CG
— The Hill (@thehill) April 7, 2019
“And China understands — you know, China has taken advantage of our country for 30 years,” he continued.
“And we can’t do that anymore. Not with me.”
The United States and China have been involved in an escalating trade war with tariffs levied on both sides. According to The New York Times, the president said several stumbling blocks remained after a meeting with top Chinese trade officials on Thursday.
“We’re talking intellectual property protection and theft. We’re talking about certain tariffs,” Trump said.
Intellectual property theft has proven to be a sticking point on trade with China, largely acknowledged to be the biggest expropriator of American IP. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has estimated intellectual property theft could cost American corporations $600 billion a year.
According to The Times, Trump said that it might take four more weeks to reach an “epic” agreement with the Chinese.
Trump had also been prepared to announce a summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, although the president’s trade advisers reportedly wanted him to wait until a deal was struck inasmuch as it would give the administration a stronger hand at the meeting.
As for the Chinese side, according to CNBC, Vice Premier Liu He “said a new consensus has been reached between China and the U.S. on the text of a trade agreement that they are negotiating,” according to Chinese state media.
A tariff war is generally a bad thing for all sides, although tariffs can be very good blunt instruments. In the case of China, a blunt instrument was needed.
Coercive practices that force American businesses to turn over technology to the Chinese if they want to do business in the country, the closed nature of China’s economy, Beijing’s heavy subsidizing of domestic industries — take your pick.
All were enough to force some sort of reckoning on trade, and tariffs are arguably the best way to bring that reckoning about.
If Trump is really moving toward an “epic” trade deal on China, it would be a major win for the administration.
How epic it is remains to be seen, but one would assume it would at least begin to address all of those issues.
That would be a major win on foreign policy going into 2020 — and one where the Democrats couldn’t point to similar successes under Obama.
It would be a reminder for Americans of who’s been in charge of looking been looking out for their interests since 2017 — and who’s been neglecting them for decades.
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