US-China trade - Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association

US-China reach trade war ‘pause’

Fox Business — Sat, 12 Oct 2019 22:41:01 +0000

The U.S. and China have reached a partial trade pause.

President Trump, speaking at the White House, said: “We’ve come to a very substantial phase one deal”…adding it will take three to five weeks to get written. The deal includes intellectual property, financial services and $40-$50 billion related to agriculture products. It is unclear what the U.S will give up in return and a comprehensive trade deal will have two or three phases.

The U.S. will not be raising tariffs on the Chinese next week to the 30 percent level as part of this agreement.

U.S. stocks spiked to the highs of the session, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising by nearly 500 points, before pulling back slightly at the close. The move signals the third major trade deal President Trump has sealed.

President Trump signaled this morning that talks were heading in the right direction after a week of trading barbs with the Chinese.

“Good things are happening at China Trade Talk Meeting. Warmer feelings than in recent past, more like the Old Days,” he tweeted.

Bloomberg was first to report that some type of deal was in place.

Source: https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/us-china-reach-partial-trade-deal-reports

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Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 16 August 2019

Mark Armstrong — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 01:05:11 +0000

Greetings from Tyler,

The Hong Kong airport is back open after being shut down completely this week, with over a thousand flights canceled. Riot police showed up in force, and Chinese officials are issuing one stern warning after another as they accumulate troops at the ready. Even though the protesters have backed away from the airport, they continue to snarl major boulevards and intersections.

These folks have lived under the British system of law all their lives. They’ve enjoyed the concept of “innocent until proven guilty,” one that we take for granted. But that is not the case in mainland China. The Hong Kongers thought they had at least until 2047 before the full weight of Chinese communism would ruin life in Hong Kong. But the proposed “extradition law,” where someone could be shipped off to the mainland when accused of a crime propelled the general population, including professionals, into the streets. If the communist Chinese get a hold of someone accused of a crime, particularly against the regime, there’s no telling what might happen to them or if anyone will ever hear from them again.

President Trump has been asked for a response to the Hong Kong standoff and his answer was, “What are we supposed to do, invade Hong Kong?” But he has indicated that any trade arrangement between China and the United States will depend on the situation being resolved humanely, and not like Tiananmen Square where people were murdered and run over with tanks.

The lack of a trade arrangement with China has contributed to some wild gyrations in the stock market. The media got really excited this week when the market fell by 800 points in a single day. When news broke of the “bond market inversion,” they could barely contain themselves. This, they told us is a harbinger of a coming recession. It was repeated endlessly on network radio breaks, in the flagship papers, and on the cable TV panel discussions.

Main street, however, isn’t Wall Street. It’s the investments in multi-national and Chinese based concerns that are taking the bath. Recession? Not likely in the U. S. unless the mainstream media can create some kind of unnecessary panic. Still not likely. A more complete discussion of this will appear in the upcoming issue of 21st Century WATCH. An economic downturn could be the one thing that might deny President Trump a second term, and that is music to the ears of a very angry and sullen media brigade.

The Trump rally in New Hampshire last night was a joyride. People are happy, smiling and optimistic, twelve thousand of them. It must really frost the news-people who’ve tripped all over each other to see who can do the best job of calling the president and all Americans who support his policies racist, planet-destroying bigots. It must be mighty depressing for the disgusted accusers in media to see these massive, enthusiastic crowds, people who aren’t buying what the mainstream is selling. And that’s another reason to smile.

And before we go, here’s one more. Members of the ‘squad’ thought they were going to breeze into Israel, rabble rouse, call Israel racist and make a big scene. That is until they were informed that they wouldn’t be admitted, announced by the Prime Minister himself. It seems Israel has a law on the books that says people calling for boycotts and the nation’s destruction aren’t to be admitted. But Rashida Tlaib, (possibly the most hideous of the creatures, it’s close) has a 90-year-old grandmother living in the West Bank. Oh, all right. Israel said she could come to visit her aged grandmother, but there would be no speeches condemning Israel, calling everybody racist or promoting a boycott of Israeli goods. Well, that was the most insulting, racist thing Talib had ever heard and now she’s refusing to go. Maybe visiting grandma wasn’t the reason for her trip in the first place! If only the real troubles in the Middle East were so trite.

P.S. We are promoting material on evolution, and my Dad’s television on the delusion of the “Trinity.”

Thousands are being exposed, and hundreds have already availed themselves of the details. Thank you all for helping make these basic truths available to the general public. Have a great Sabbath,

Mark

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

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China says has begun purchase of more US farm goods

China News Agency (CNA) — Thu, 01 Aug 2019 15:03:39 +0000

BEIJING: China said on Thursday (Aug 1) that it had begun purchasing more US farm goods, addressing a key sticking point in efforts to resolve a drawn-out trade war between the two economic giants.

US farm exports to China are estimated to be the lowest in years as a result of Beijing’s retaliation against President Donald Trump’s tariffs on US$250 billion of Chinese goods.

Trump said this week that China was supposed to start buying more American agricultural goods but had shown “no signs that they are doing so”.

Chinese enterprises started approaching US suppliers in mid-July to discuss buying new agricultural goods including soybeans, cotton, pork, and sorghum, commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng told reporters on Thursday.

His comments came a day after Chinese and US trade negotiators in Shanghai wrapped up their first face-to-face talks since Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a truce in June.

Companies “have already purchased some agricultural products”, Gao added, noting the companies had applied for exemptions to punitive tariffs China has slapped on US farm goods.

Officials at the Shanghai meeting focused on why the earlier negotiations had broken down and principles and plans for future talks, Gao told reporters.

“This round of consultations was frank, efficient and constructive,” he said.

Both sides “will hold intensive consultations in August to properly prepare for the face-to-face meetings of the leaders of the consultations in September”, Gao added.

‘MUCH TOUGHER’

If the US and China approach the talks as equals and properly handle each other’s concerns, the two sides can find a resolution to the trade frictions, Gao said.

The trade war between the two economies has seen both sides hit each other with punitive tariffs covering more than US$360 billion in two-way trade.

Trump suggested Tuesday that Beijing was hoping to delay a deal until after the US presidential elections in November 2020, saying China wanted to see if a Democratic opponent wins the vote so it could “continue to rip off the USA”.

But Trump also warned that “if & when I win, the deal that they get will be much tougher than what we are negotiating now … or no deal at all”.

Trade experts also view a deal as unlikely before the 2020 elections.

The months-long trade war has compounded slowing global demand for Chinese goods and led some US firms to begin moving supply chains out of China.

Data this week showed activity in China’s manufacturing sector continued to contract for the third straight month.

China’s total exports during the first half of the year barely rose from last year, while its exports to the US shrank.

A meeting of the Politburo, China’s top decision-making body, this week emphasized the economy faces downward pressure and “new risks”, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Economic growth in the second quarter slowed to 6.2 percent – China’s slowest in nearly 30 years.

Source: AFP/ec

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/china-says-has-begun-purchase-of-more-us-farm-goods-11772786

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Trade rocks already unstable U.S.-China relations

Deb Riechmann and Matthew Pennington — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 07:24:29 +0000

FILE – In this Nov. 9, 2017, file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands during a news conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Trump’s trade battle with China will exacerbate relations with Beijing that are already fraying on several fronts as the U.S. takes a more confrontational stance and an increasingly powerful China stands its ground. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump’s trade battle with China will exacerbate relations with Beijing that are already fraying on several fronts as the U.S. takes a more confrontational stance and an increasingly powerful China stands its ground.

The gloves came off Friday as the world’s two largest economies imposed tariffs on billions of dollars of each other’s goods amid a spiraling dispute over technology. It comes at a time when Washington needs China’s help in ending its nuclear standoff with North Korea.

Trump’s much-vaunted personal rapport with Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom he hosted at his Mar-a-Lago resort three months after taking office, won’t help patch up differences, experts and former officials say.

“The notion that there’s a personal relationship which will somehow supersede China’s strategic interests and the well-being of the Communist Party — including its ability to manage its own economy consistent with its political interests — is absurd,” said Daniel Russel, top U.S. diplomat for East Asia under President Barack Obama.

“There’s no scenario in which an affectionate relationship, real or imagined, is going to stay Xi’s hand,” Russel said.

Troubles in the bilateral relationship go beyond trade. China has chafed about the scope of U.S. relations with Taiwan; U.S. complaints about its construction of military outposts on islands in the South China Sea; tougher screening of Chinese investment in the U.S.; visa restrictions; and accusations that it’s the main source of opioids.

If not new, these are now deepening sources of tension between Washington and Beijing. Even as Trump has sought to cultivate his relationship with the increasingly dominant Chinese leader, his administration has chosen to confront an increasingly defiant China on pretty much all them. It also identified China, along with Russia, as a threat in the most recent U.S. National Security Strategy.

In response, Beijing is hanging tough.

“China has made it abundantly clear that it will never surrender to blackmail or coercion,” Chinese state news agency Xinhua said Friday.

To what extent the trade tensions bleed into other aspects of the U.S.-China relationship, which has retained a mostly upward trajectory since the normalization of ties four decades ago, remains to be seen.

But Mike Pillsbury, director of the Center for Chinese Strategy at the Hudson Institute, said U.S.-China relations are headed into “uncharted waters.”

Recently returned from a visit to China, Pillsbury said he was told by government officials and businessmen that they were confused about what the Trump administration wanted them to do to get the U.S. to ease the trade tensions. They threatened to back off assisting the U.S. nuclear talks with North Korea.

“They explicitly said that,” according to Pillsbury, who has written three books on China and has advised the Trump administration. “They said we will help you (the U.S.) less with North Korea if you start a trade war with us on July 6. Pretty clear, huh?”

China has, in fact, already distanced itself somewhat from its significant cooperation with the U.S. on North Korea. After supporting tough U.N. sanctions and scaling back trade with the North after it ramped up nuclear and missile tests last year, Beijing has eased restrictions on its neighbor. That shift began after Trump in March abruptly decided to hold a summit with Kim Jong Un. Once again, China has again focused on rekindling its traditional alliance with Pyongyang — Xi has met Kim three times this year.

Abraham Denmark, a former senior U.S. defense official on Asia, said China has welcomed Trump’s sudden shift from confrontation to diplomacy with North Korea and also his decision to halt large-scale military exercises with close U.S. ally South Korea.

Yet China also views what happens with North Korea through the lens of the geopolitical rivalry between the U.S. and China, he said. North Korea long served as a buffer against America’s expanding its reach in Northeast Asia to China’s border.

“If the U.S. is going to engage in a trade war, which is very troubling for China, politically, it’s going to reduce their willingness to cooperate on North Korea,” he said.

Denmark, who is now director of the Asia program at the Wilson Center think tank, warned of a broader deterioration in relations, as Trump pursues more aggressive policies toward Beijing, and China stakes out a position as world player unwilling to be pushed around.

“China under Xi Jinping has been more aggressive in its pursuit of its interests. I expect we’re going to see more tensions across the board: in trade, the South China Sea, Taiwan, Korea,” Denmark said. “These are all part of the same story, which is that China is feeling more confident and powerful, and more willing to accept friction and tension in the pursuit of its interests.”

On recent trip to China, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis did some damage mitigation, talking up the importance of military cooperation despite his earlier decision to withdraw an invite for China to participate in a U.S.-led multinational naval exercise over its activities in the disputed South China Sea. Xi struck a similar note, calling military ties a “model component of our overall bilateral relations.”

That may help to ward off the possibilities of unintended conflict between the two militaries, but it will not prevent a growing rift on other issues.

The United States accuses China of using predatory tactics in a push to supplant American technological dominance. The tactics include forcing U.S. companies to hand over technology in exchange for access to the Chinese market, as well as outright cyber-theft. Trump’s tariffs are meant to pressure Beijing to reform its trade policies.

On Friday, the Trump administration imposed tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese products. Within hours, China retaliated with taxes on an equal amount of U.S. products, including soybeans, pork and electric cars.

Russel said that ultimately the Trump administration’s issuing of demands of China on trade and other issues could harden attitudes inside the country, weakening the hands of reformers and strengthening nationalists who vilify the United States.

“The net effect of the Trump administration’s policies is that it will create an entire generation of Chinese who believe the worst about the United States,” Russel said.

Source: https://japantoday.com/category/features/opinions/analysis-trade-rocks-already-unstable-us-china-relations

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Lindsey Graham blames China for North Korea’s nuclear pullback

Erica Pandey — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 01:26:47 +0000

Sen. Lindsey Graham said on “Fox News Sunday” that he sees “China’s hands all over” North Korea’s latest statement calling the U.S. push for complete denuclearization “regrettable.” He added, “If I were President Trump, I would not let China use North Korea to back me off of the trade dispute. We’ve got more bullets than they do when it comes to trade.”

The big picture: Kim Jong-un has kept China updated on developments in his talks with the United States, visiting Beijing three times in the past few months to meet President Xi Jinping. And China’s influence with North Korea is crucial leverage against Washington amid an escalating trade war.

Yes, but: North Korea’s pivot was predicted by dozens of experts who said to watch for Kim to dial back vague promises of denuclearization after his summit in Singapore with President Trump.

Graham’s full quote:

“I see China’s hands all over this. We are in a fight with China. We buy $500 billion worth of goods from the Chinese; they buy $100 billion from us. They cheat, and President Trump wants to change the economic relationship with China, so if I were President Trump, I would not let China use North Korea to back me off of the trade dispute. We’ve got more bullets than they do when it comes to trade. We sell them $100 billion; they sell us $500 billion. We can hurt them more than they’ll hurt us, and all we’re looking for is for them to stop cheating when it comes to trade. There is no doubt in my mind that it’s the Chinese pulling the North Koreans back.”

Source: https://www.axios.com/lindsey-graham-north-korea-regrettable-trump-trade-war-china-30cf2384-5526-44d8-a956-f01b6d2bb79a.html

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