CHINA/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A month before President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing, Chinese officials presented an offer they thought Washington couldn’t refuse.
China proposed that during the trip, Mr. Trump and his counterpart, Xi Jinping, unveil a plan to widen foreign firms’ access to China’s vast financial industry, according to people with knowledge of the matter. It was a move previous U.S. administrations had sought for years…
The financial opening initially attracted wide attention from market participants, and Beijing called it evidence of its commitment to market liberalization. U.S. reaction has been tepid. A White House spokeswoman on Friday called it ‘welcome but long overdue’ and said: ‘It is also only one of a plethora of problems China needs to address in order to provide fair and reciprocal access to its market.’
The Trump administration, which recently completed a comprehensive review of China policy, is rejecting the longstanding practice of eking out concessions from Beijing on trade and market access around high-level meetings.”
-Lingling Wei, Jacob M. Schlesinger, Jeremy Page, and Michael C. Bender, “U.S. Rebuffs China’s Charm Offensive, Edging Closer to Trade War,” The Wall Street Journal online, Nov. 19, 2017 06:22pm