US Entering ‘End Game Phase’ in China Talks, Says Chamber of Commerce Official
A U.S.-China trade deal is 90 percent “done,” but the fate of post-agreement Section 301 tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese imports remains unknown, Myron Brilliant, who heads international affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told reporters Tuesday. "We're getting into the end-game phase" with China, he said.
Brilliant conceded getting “the last 10 percent” of a deal completed is “the trickiest.” It’s clear the Chinese want to see the tariffs go away, said Brilliant, saying he based his intelligence on a recent 10-day trip to China where he spoke to government officials.
The chamber’s U.S. constituents also want the tariffs to disappear, said Brilliant. It’s likely President Donald Trump will want to keep at least some of the duties in place as enforcement leverage in any deal, he said. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, in two recent appearances before Congress, refused to commit publicly whether a deal with China hinges on lifting the tariffs (see 1903130036).
Failure to reach an agreement on what will happen to the tariffs “is why we don't have a deal at this point," said Brilliant. Other sticking points include Chinese behavior toward joint ventures with U.S. partners and increasing Chinese market access for U.S. exporters, he said.
Brilliant believes there are several paths the Trump administration could take to partially remove the tariffs, he told our affiliate International Trade Today. One remedy could be removing swaths of tariff lines from the existing lists, or reducing to 5 percent the 10 percent duties on the third tranche of goods, he said. Further removals or reductions could be tied to specific milestones of Chinese policy changes, he said.