CHINA/FOREIGN POLICY/TARIFFS/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday [3-7-18] that Washington had asked Beijing for a $1 billion reduction—less than 0.3% of the countries’ annual trade gap or around one day’s worth of the trade imbalance. His tweet was off by $99 billion. … It is unclear how feasible the deficit-reduction goal is for Beijing and what kind of plan it could offer. … Chinese officials have been cautious in their responses to Mr. Trump’s ramped-up trade offensive. ‘In the event of a trade war, China will make proper and necessary responses,’ Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a Thursday news conference, on the sidelines of China’s annual legislative session. … Further stoking fears of a trade war is the resignation of Gary Cohn as Mr. Trump’s top economic adviser. … At a meeting on the sidelines of China’s legislative session Wednesday, Mr. Xi’s economic adviser, just back from his Washington trip, sought to deliver a reassuring message to a group of lawmakers that China and U.S. will keep their communications going to ease trade tensions. Mr. Liu described his exchanges with senior U.S. officials including Mr. Cohn, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer as ‘candid and constructive,’ according to people with knowledge of the event. ‘Both sides said there won’t be a trade war,’ Mr. Liu told the group of some 60 lawmakers.”
-Lingling Wei, “U.S. Asks China for Plan to Reduce Trade Deficit by $100 Billion,” The Wall Street Journal online, Mar. 8, 2018 10:09am